Wilhelm reich genitality in the theory and therapy of neurosis

The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way Copyright infringement is against the law If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author’s copyright, please notify the publisher at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy Contents Title Page Copyright Notice Epigraph Editors’ Preface Foreword to the First Edition Foreword to the Second Edition Orgastic Potency The Neurotic Conflict Disturbances of the Orgasm Sexual Stasis: The Energy Source of Neurosis Forms of Genital Impotence On the Psychoanalytic Theory of Genitality Sexual Stasis, Aggression, Destruction, and Sadism The Social Significance of Genital Strivings Notes Index Also by Wilhelm Reich Copyright Love, work and knowledge are the well-springs of our life They should also govern it WILHELM REICH Editors’ Preface Why neurotic symptoms disappear when a patient experiences genital satisfaction? And why they reappear when the sexual need-tension builds up again? Does the genital orgasm have a biological function irrespective of procreation? If so, what is that function? And what is its significance for the theory and therapy of neurosis? These are questions to which Reich addressed himself more than fifty years ago The results of his investigation were first published in 1927 by the International Psychoanalytic Press under the title Die Funktion des Orgasmus Reich considered this study, which he dedicated to his teacher Freud, to be within the framework of psychoanalytic thought However, the coolness of Freud, who had turned increasingly from a biological to a psychological orientation, and the growing hostility of his colleagues, whose primary interest lay in the psychology of the neurosis rather than in its biological basis, soon corrected that view The book was never republished or translated Later, in 1942, Reich published a scientific autobiography under the same title, The Function of the Orgasm With the exception of a detailed description of the orgasm process, however, no part of the 1927 volume was included In reusing the title of the earlier book, he wished, it is apparent, to accentuate the fact that the whole development of his work flowed out of his orgasm research and his conviction that the orgasm function holds the key to the most basic questions in nature We are now presenting for the first time a second, revised edition of the 1927 publication under the new title Genitality in the Theory and Therapy of Neurosis This title change has been made in order to avoid any possible confusion with the 1942 work, which is widely distributed throughout the world All the other revisions—additions, deletions, word and chapter-title changes—were made by Reich himself between 1937 and 1945 Often, they reflect his separation from Freud and psychoanalysis and his recognition that this investigation of genitality derived from his own commitment to a search for the source of the energy which precipitates and sustains the neurosis rather than from Freudian theory or practice It is of interest to note that he has reversed the position of the first two chapters In 1927, he began with a presentation of the neurotic conflict as it was understood by Freud In this second edition, the initial focus is placed on the natural function of orgastic potency, the core of Reich’s orgasm theory Aside from his independent position, Reich’s changes mirror the development of his experimental research in Norway (1935–9) which confirmed the validity of the orgasm formula and revealed the existence of a demonstrable biological energy to which he gave the name “orgone.” Material that was still hypothetical in 1927 is now clarified authoritatively from the perspective of his knowledge of this physical energy Of all the bodily functions, it is the genital function that is most subject to interference by social restrictions It is difficult to make clear its significance, not because the function itself is complicated, but because it is an awkward subject tainted with lascivious thinking and guilt In the practice of medicine it is either avoided or, as in the sex therapies that have become so popular recently, it is viewed as a purely local phenomenon Reich’s discovery of the unifying, energy-regulating function of the genital orgasm is still not understood, but today, when many of the moral dams against genitality have been removed and society is flooded with the evidence of unsatisfied genital longing —pornography, teenage violence and suicide, wanton murder, child abuse, etc.—it becomes an essential guidepost to clarity and, hopefully, to the eventual prevention of the neuroses and functional diseases which now exist en masse Mary Higgins, Trustee The Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust Fund Chester M Raphael, M.D Forest Hills, N Y 1979 Foreword to the First Edition The theoretical questions dealt with here arose out of certain practical issues in the psychoanalytic treatment of emotionally ill persons I had been struck by the connection between the positive as well as the negative therapeutic reactions of these patients and their genitality; I discussed some aspects of this in the International Journal for Psychoanalysis.1 Pursuing the theoretical questions further, I was able to regularly establish causal connections between the neurotic processes and disturbances of genital functioning which explain the therapeutic reactions These connections permit us to understand why impotence, or, as the case may be, frigidity, is a regular concomitant of neurosis, and also why the form of the neurosis determines the form of the disturbance of genital functioning and vice versa Seen in relation to the function of the orgasm, which gradually assumed a central position, the problem of anxiety, certain marital and social phenomena, as well as the issue of the therapy of neurosis, also appear in a clearer light Although this work builds entirely on Freud’s theories of sexuality and of neurosis, I cannot presume that the concept of the dynamics of psychoanalytic therapy and its tasks set forth here have been accepted by the Freudian school; what follows reflects my own clinical experience Nevertheless, I believe that my view of the importance of genitality, particularly the genital orgasm, to the theory and therapy of neuroses and of the neurotic character, is a direct continuation of fundamental psychoanalytic theory and makes possible a more consistent application of the theory of neurosis to therapy Many questions relating to the theory of character formation and ego psychology are also intimately connected with the problem of the orgasm I have attempted as far as possible to exclude them from discussion so as not to disrupt the unity of the subject Furthermore, the peculiar difficulties associated with the psychoanalytic theory of character formation made their exclusion necessary In the first place, the clinical basis of the theory is not yet sufficiently complete and, second, the psychoanalytic theory of character formation, systematically laid out in Freud’s The Ego and the Id, would have had to have been dealt with in detail from the perspective of sexual theory I feel it necessary to state this, lest I be reproached for having neglected ego psychology However, the exclusion of this major theme, which I attempted to outline under the title “Drive Psychology and the Theory of Character” in a course given at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute and which I shall reserve for separate treatment, created serious gaps in the present work that could give rise to some misunderstanding In dealing with the theory of sexuality, I have striven for completeness to the extent my experience permitted Where it is limited, as, for example, with regard to the disturbances of genital functioning in satyriasis, epilepsy, and the psychoses, I have, despite isolated findings, omitted discussion Insofar as any misunderstandings may involve factual matters, I hope to be able to dispel them later I publish this work fully aware that it deals with very “explosive material” and that I must therefore be prepared for emotionally-based objections It is not easy to impersonally and unemotionally discuss the orgasm and its role in the life of the individual and in society The subject is too much a part of everyone’s experience and, consequently, there is always the danger of distortion or ideological coloring of factual judgment The question, however, is not the presence or absence of an ideology but rather the type of ideology involved; that is, whether an ethically evaluative attitude toward the problem of sex leads one away from the truth or whether a different moral attitude compels one to pursue it Moreover, there is an essential difference between measuring the facts of sexual life according to the arbitrary yardstick of some unverifiable “good” or “bad” and assessing them on the basis of a nonethical objective, noting, for instance, whether a given behavior benefits or harms an individual’s psychic health, that is, his ability to love and to work I believe I have adhered to the latter type of evaluation in dealing with issues of sexuality in marriage and the prevailing sexual morality Since to the best of my knowledge no investigation such as this one has ever before been attempted—indeed, the function of the orgasm appears to be the stepchild of both psychology and physiology—it is to be hoped that the results themselves will justify the undertaking and that factual criticism alone will assess the importance of its subject matter The facts themselves protect against the danger of exaggeration; the raw statistics regarding the frequency of impotence and frigidity among neurotics and the few detailed case histories can reflect only imperfectly the impression gained by the practicing physician, unless he is determined to close his mind to it at any price Moreover, at present there is a much greater likelihood that the importance of the sexual function will be underestimated rather than overestimated, a fact far more harmful than if the reverse were to be the case This would seem to account for the inaccessibility of the somatic foundation of neurosis, insofar as it was approached at all However, a more accurate explanation reveals that, except in psychoanalysis, inquiries about the sexual life of the “nervous” patient are still anxiously avoided It is historically interesting that while the physiologists spoke out against the psychogenetic theory of neurosis and searched in vain for a somatic basis, it was the medical psychologist Freud, using a psychological method, who discovered the “somatic core of neurosis.” Thirty years of psychoanalytic experience separates that discovery and the present Our examination of the function of the orgasm, which is a psychophysical phenomenon, must therefore reach far back, taking as its starting point the psychic manifestations of somatic disturbances in sexual functioning subsumed by Freud under the term “actual neuroses” and contrasted with the “psychoneuroses.” As a result of the rapid progress psychoanalysis has made in fathoming the psychic causes of neurosis, there has been a waning of interest in the “libido stasis” originally thought of as somatic in nature.2 The concept of libido increasingly acquired the meaning of a psychic rather than a physical energy Interest in the “actual neurotic (i.e., somatic) core of neurosis” suffered unwarrantably from this shift In the past ten years it has scarcely been mentioned Freud himself still holds fast to the theory of actual neurosis,3 although since 1924 he has not dealt any further with this aspect of neurosis A study of the causes, manifestations, and effects of somatic libido stasis, extending without interruption over several years, has convinced me that Freud’s theory of actual neurosis, a theory that has withstood many objections on the part of psychoanalysts themselves, not only is heuristically useful but, as a theory for the physiological basis of neurosis, also forms an indispensable part of psychopathology and the theory of analytic therapy Thus, this work has an additional purpose, namely, to remind us that Freud has shown us a path along which we may approach the organic basis of neurosis, and to demonstrate that we can effectively utilize his long-neglected discovery in both practice and theory Wilhelm Reich 1926 ... causes of neurosis, there has been a waning of interest in the “libido stasis” originally thought of as somatic in nature.2 The concept of libido increasingly acquired the meaning of a psychic rather... application of the theory of neurosis to therapy Many questions relating to the theory of character formation and ego psychology are also intimately connected with the problem of the orgasm I... importance of genitality, particularly the genital orgasm, to the theory and therapy of neuroses and of the neurotic character, is a direct continuation of fundamental psychoanalytic theory and makes