Wilhelm Reich

Wilhelm Reich (March 24, 1897–November 3, 1957) was an Austrian-American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and author, who was trained in Vienna by Sigmund Freud.

Status of Reich's work

Nearly all of Reich's publications have been reprinted, save for his research journals which are available only as photocopies via the Wilhelm Reich Museum. http://www.wilhelmreichmuseum.org However the first editions are not available: Reich continously amended his books throughout his life, and the owners of Reich's intellectual property actively forbid anything other than the latest revised versions to be reprinted. In the late 1960s, the publishing house of Farrar, Straus & Giroux republished Reich's major works. Reich's earlier books, particularly The Mass Psychology of Fascism, are regarded as historically valuable.

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William Steig, Norman Mailer, William S. Burroughs and Orson Bean have all undergone Reich's orgone therapy. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Reich's ideas on social and sexual freedom enjoyed a revival and most of his books were reprinted and widely read, including by the loosely defined "New Left" and students' movements in Europe and the U.S., though often with considerable distortion of his ideas. As of 2005, the mainstream scientific community pays little attention to Reich's work.

Related Topics:
William Steig - Norman Mailer - William S. Burroughs - Orson Bean - 1960s - 1970s - New Left - 2005

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His Influence - Neo-Reichians

His influence, however, is strongly felt in psychotherapy. He was a forerunner of body-oriented, emotions-based psychotherapies, influencing Fritz Perls' Gestalt therapy and Arthur Janov's primal therapy. See also Neo-Reichian massage. His pupil Alexander Lowen, the founder of bioenergetic analysis, Charles Kelley, the founder of Radix Therapy, and James DeMeo of the Orgone Biophysical Research Laboratory http://www.orgonelab.org ensure that his research receives widespread attention. Many practising psychoanalysts give credence to his theory of character, and his book Character Analysis is still used as a textbook. The American College of Orgonomy http://www.orgonomy.org, originally led by Dr. Elsworth Baker, and the Institute for Orgonomic Science http://www.orgonomicscience.org led by Dr. Morton Herskowitz, still use Reich's original therapeutic methods.

Related Topics:
Psychotherapy - Fritz Perls - Gestalt therapy - Arthur Janov - Primal therapy - Neo-Reichian massage - Alexander Lowen - Bioenergetic analysis

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Reich's life and work continue to influence popular culture, with references to orgone and cloudbusting found in songs by Clutch, Hawkwind, Pop Will Eat Itself, Turbonegro and Patti Smith. Kate Bush's song, "Cloudbusting," http://children.ofthenight.org/cloudbusting/cloudbusting.html describes Reich's arrest and incarceration through the eyes of Reich's son, Peter, who wrote his father's story in A Book of Dreams, published in 1973. Frank Zappa was also influenced by Reich's work. The philosopher and science fiction author Robert Anton Wilson wrote a play, Wilhelm Reich in Hell, based on his life. A film about Reich's teachings called ' was made in 1971 by Yugoslavian director Dusan Makavejev.

Related Topics:
Clutch - Hawkwind - Pop Will Eat Itself - Turbonegro - Patti Smith - Kate Bush - 1973 - Frank Zappa - Robert Anton Wilson - 1971 - Yugoslavia - Dusan Makavejev

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