WORKING WITH THE BODY IN PSYCHOTHERAPY
A Reichian Viewpoint
Process of Orgone Therapy
Inmate Counseling, Therapy and Treatment
The discovery of muscular armoring in the body by Wilhelm Reich came directly out of his explorations into the
character structure of his patients. "Character analysis" was Reich's seminal contribution to psychoanalytic technique.
In essence, Reich found that by attending strictly and consistently to the form of the patient's verbal productions rather
than their content, he was able to deal more effectively with the patient's defensive structure and thus penetrate more
deeply and surely into the structure of the neurosis. Each patient has a characteristic "way" in which he expressed himself.
By focusing on this way, be it a form of repeated or chronic facial expression, of speaking, of holding oneself, of walking,
etc., and by repetitively describing to the patient this way, mimicking the patient, and eventually analysis of the behavior
regarding its present-day and past functions, patients, after initially venting anger at the therapist for "attacking" them,
eventually give in to the softer, yielding emotions against which their defenses protect them. By systematically working on
the character of the patient, layer after layer of blocked emotions are released in the therapeutic sessions until, each
individual finds that at their "core" they are naturally, healthfully aggressive, responsible, independent, loving, sexual creatures.
Reich's "character analytic treatment" underwent a significant transformation when he discovered that the character armor was "anchored"
in patterns of chronic muscular tension in the body. That is, muscular armoring distributed in definite patterns throughout the body
served the same defensive purpose as the character armoring did in the psyche.
At about the same time that Reich discovered muscular armoring, his earlier, psychoanalytically based concepts of an energetic
basis for neurosis were maturing through experiments on the biophysics of life and the emotions and the discovery of a "life energy"
in all living things and in the cosmos. With the discovery of "orgone energy", Reich recast his understanding of neurosis and its
treatment. The goal of "orgonomic therapy" became the establishment of the free flow of life energy through the body by therapeutic
work on the character and muscular armoring.
The patient must be brought in contact with the ways in which he behaves and holds himself and the muscular tensions sustaining
these traits. The latter are dissolved by deep massage on the tense musculature. The combined work results in spontaneous emotional
release and a deepening of the therapy. In the process the relationship to the therapist and to significant figures in one's life
also deepen. Sometimes radical changes are necessary in the patient's work or significant relationships in order to move forward.
Here the therapist discusses matters with the patient and supports their movement toward health.
Dr. Richard Blasband M.D.,
has been a psychiatric orgone therapist for 40 years and is Research Director of the Center for Functional Research in Sausalito, CA.
415-331-2536
rablasband@sbcglobal.net
The Orgonomic Institute of Northern California
315 Eldridge Ave. Mill Valley, CA 94941
415-388-0622
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