In psychology, Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) was an Austrian-born American psychologist noted for his circa 1930 theory of “orgone energy”, a derivative or synthesis of "libido", namely the libido energy model of Sigmund Freud, and the sexual "orgasm", a type of universal vitalism-style radiating “biological energy” or orgasmic energy; a possible variant or spinoff of psychic energy model espoused by Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung school of psychodynamics, that was proposed to be something that could be quantified and measured. [1]
Education
After serving in the Austrian army on the Italian front, Reich began attending classes at the University of Vienna and graduated in 1922 as a doctor of medicine. While studying for his doctorate, Reich became a protégé of Sigmund Freud, and soon after graduating became a clinical assistant at Freud's Psychoanalytical Clinic. [3]
In 1934, after being expelled from the International Psychoanalytic Association, he moved to the US where he working on his orgone theory, started a laboratory in Maine, an observatory, and a publishing house called Orgone Press. In 1954 a lawsuit was filed against him for selling his “orgone accumulators” after which he was sentenced to two years in prison, where he died in 1957. [2]
See also
● Toralf Zschau
● Siegfried Bernfeld and Sergei Feitelberg (libido energy; rectal temperature vs. brain temperature measurements of entropy, etc.).
References
1. (a) Reich, Wilhelm. (1973). The Function of the Orgasm: Sex-Economic Problems of Biological Energy. MacMillan.
(b) Orgone – Wikipedia.
2. Weibel, Peter, and Muzeum, Ludwig. (2005). Beyond Art: a Third Culture (Section: Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957), pg. 531). Springer.
3. Morton, Jerry. (2003). “Who Was Dr. Wilhelm Reich?” Spectrum Magazine, Jul.
External links
● Wilhelm Reich – Wikipedia.
