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Character Analysis
Reich's classic work on the development and treatment of human character disorders, first published in 1933. As a young clinician in the 1920s, Wihelm Reich expanded psychoanalytic resistance into the more inclusive technique of character analysis, in which the sum total of typical character attitudes developed by an individual as a blocking against emotional excitations became the object of treatment. These encrusted attitudes functioned as an "armor," which Reich later found to exist simultaneously in chronic muscular spasms. Thus mind and body came together and character analysis opened the way to a biophysical approach to disease and the prevention of it.
576 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1933
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About the author
Wilhelm Reich
157 books716 followersWilhelm Reich (24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was a Jewish Austrian-American doctor of medicine, psychiatrist/psychoanalyst and a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. Author of several influential books, he became one of the most radical figures in the history of psychiatry.
Reich was a respected analyst for much of his life, focusing on character structure, rather than on individual neurotic symptoms. He promoted adolescent sexuality, the availability of contraceptives and abortion, and the importance for women of economic independence. Synthesizing material from psychoanalysis, cultural anthropology, economics, sociology, and ethics, his work influenced writers such as Alexander Lowen, Fritz Perls, Paul Goodman, Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, A. S. Neill, and William Burroughs.
He was also a controversial figure, who came to be viewed by the psychoanalytic establishment as having gone astray or as having succumbed to mental illness. His work on the link between human sexuality and neuroses emphasized "orgastic potency" as the foremost criterion for psycho-physical health. He said he had discovered a form of energy, which he called "orgone," that permeated the atmosphere and all living matter, and he built "orgone accumulators," which his patients sat inside to harness the energy for its reputed health benefits. It was this work, in particular, that cemented the rift between Reich and the psychoanalytic establishment.
Reich, of Jewish descent and a communist, was living in Germany when Adolf Hitler came to power. He fled to Scandinavia in 1933 and subsequently to the United States in 1939. In 1947, following a series of critical articles about orgone and his political views in The New Republic and Harper's, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began an investigation into his claims, winning an injunction against the interstate sale of orgone accumulators. Charged with contempt of court for violating the injunction, Reich conducted his own defense, which involved sending the judge all his books to read, and arguing that a court was no place to decide matters of science. He was sentenced to two years in prison, and in August 1956, several tons of his publications were burned by the FDA. He died of heart failure in jail just over a year later, days before he was due to apply for parole.
Reich was a respected analyst for much of his life, focusing on character structure, rather than on individual neurotic symptoms. He promoted adolescent sexuality, the availability of contraceptives and abortion, and the importance for women of economic independence. Synthesizing material from psychoanalysis, cultural anthropology, economics, sociology, and ethics, his work influenced writers such as Alexander Lowen, Fritz Perls, Paul Goodman, Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, A. S. Neill, and William Burroughs.
He was also a controversial figure, who came to be viewed by the psychoanalytic establishment as having gone astray or as having succumbed to mental illness. His work on the link between human sexuality and neuroses emphasized "orgastic potency" as the foremost criterion for psycho-physical health. He said he had discovered a form of energy, which he called "orgone," that permeated the atmosphere and all living matter, and he built "orgone accumulators," which his patients sat inside to harness the energy for its reputed health benefits. It was this work, in particular, that cemented the rift between Reich and the psychoanalytic establishment.
Reich, of Jewish descent and a communist, was living in Germany when Adolf Hitler came to power. He fled to Scandinavia in 1933 and subsequently to the United States in 1939. In 1947, following a series of critical articles about orgone and his political views in The New Republic and Harper's, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began an investigation into his claims, winning an injunction against the interstate sale of orgone accumulators. Charged with contempt of court for violating the injunction, Reich conducted his own defense, which involved sending the judge all his books to read, and arguing that a court was no place to decide matters of science. He was sentenced to two years in prison, and in August 1956, several tons of his publications were burned by the FDA. He died of heart failure in jail just over a year later, days before he was due to apply for parole.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
November 12, 2008
Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Charles Bukowski, Ernest Hemingway, William Burroughs…they all leave me with a feeling of emptiness. Don’t get me wrong, I think they are all brilliant, and I enjoy them all (with the exception of Led Zeppelin). However, I can only take them in small doses. Why is that? I’ve come to the conclusion that they, among others, are masculine-centered. There is nothing wrong with masculinity or delving into your gender experience, but it does end up being one-sided. I would feel the same way about a book that excluded the male experience, as well. It leaves me with the feeling that something’s missing and makes me sad. I don’t think this should deter people from experiencing their art, though. It is one aspect of the rich human experience. You just have to be in the right frame of mind for it.
Reading Wilhelm Reich’s Character Analysis left me with a similar impression. He was brilliant. Wilhelm Reich was one of the first western scientists to contribute to the study of mind-body medicine. His methods and insights are thought-provoking. I hadn’t read a book this wonderfully challenging for a long time. There were vast sections, however, where I yearned to hear how his theories apply to me, as a woman. There is only so much penis talk you can take!
Although I wished for more coverage of women’s struggles, I kept reading. I kept reading, because it was strongly evident that Wilhelm Reich was on a quest to heal all people. He says, “Accordingly, the fear of orgastic contact constitutes the core of the fear of genuine, direct psychic contact with persons and with the processes of reality.” Reich wanted people to connect with and release their armor that no longer serves them. He wanted us to connect genuinely with each other. “Contemporary society, with its sex-negating morality and economic incompetence to guarantee the masses of its members even a bare existence, is as far removed from the recognition of such possibilities as it is from their practical application.” He was fighting against the malaise that continues to inflict the people of our world.
Like I said, this book was a challenging read. I think it was written for the professional psychoanalytic audience. While it’s not necessarily intended for the layperson, if one has an interest in getting to the root of their motivations and repressions, and a wish to experience full vitality, this makes an enlightening read. Wilhelm Reich was calling us to fight, too, to fight for our lives.
Reading Wilhelm Reich’s Character Analysis left me with a similar impression. He was brilliant. Wilhelm Reich was one of the first western scientists to contribute to the study of mind-body medicine. His methods and insights are thought-provoking. I hadn’t read a book this wonderfully challenging for a long time. There were vast sections, however, where I yearned to hear how his theories apply to me, as a woman. There is only so much penis talk you can take!
Although I wished for more coverage of women’s struggles, I kept reading. I kept reading, because it was strongly evident that Wilhelm Reich was on a quest to heal all people. He says, “Accordingly, the fear of orgastic contact constitutes the core of the fear of genuine, direct psychic contact with persons and with the processes of reality.” Reich wanted people to connect with and release their armor that no longer serves them. He wanted us to connect genuinely with each other. “Contemporary society, with its sex-negating morality and economic incompetence to guarantee the masses of its members even a bare existence, is as far removed from the recognition of such possibilities as it is from their practical application.” He was fighting against the malaise that continues to inflict the people of our world.
Like I said, this book was a challenging read. I think it was written for the professional psychoanalytic audience. While it’s not necessarily intended for the layperson, if one has an interest in getting to the root of their motivations and repressions, and a wish to experience full vitality, this makes an enlightening read. Wilhelm Reich was calling us to fight, too, to fight for our lives.
January 5, 2017
Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) was one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century though his ideas have yet to receive the broad recognition they deserve. Why? A combination of two complimentary factors : his accurate diagnosis of a species-wide form of psychological disorder he called “the emotional plague” was extremely confronting, and his claim to have discovered a cosmic energy called “orgone”, which could heal people if they sat in “orgone boxes” and could make it rain if you pointed a “cloud buster” at a cloud, made it easy to dismiss him as a crackpot.
The challenge of reviewing one of his books is how to deal with the whole “orgone energy” issue. Reich was not a biologist or physicist. He came from the Freudian school of psychoanalysis, which was never based on the strict discipline characteristic of the hard sciences. He arrived at the concept of this cosmic energy from the basis of the physical experiences of himself and his patients. Some may be tempted to interpret what he says in the light of other, more recent, discoveries. A friend of mine suggested that what Reich describes as the flow of orgone through the body corresponds with the pathways by which we now know that the chemical oxytocin travels through the bloodstream. Reich believed that the orgone flowed most strongly at orgasm and orgasm produces oxytocin. Did sitting in orgone boxes help to heal people of their psychological or physical ailments? It seems likely that there would have been a placebo effect. Beyond that I’m happy with my ignorance. There are Reich supporters who claim the accumulators and cloudbusters work, but orgone energy never gained any currency amongst biologists or physicists.
Those who dismiss Reich on the basis of the grander claims make a big mistake. He arrived there by studying human behaviour, and it is in that field that his importance lies. Character Analysis was originally published in 1933 and then greatly expanded in 1948. It’s a book with a split personality which illustrates how much it’s author’s therapeutic ideas had changed over that time. In the main body of the work he introduces two of his most important ideas - character armour and body armour. The basic frame of reference here is still Freudian psychoanalysis, though Reich is already a heretic. He makes the case that Freud’s “death instinct” represents a denial of the responsibility of the psychiatrist to address those aspects of our culture which make us sick. Why does a mentally ill person hurt themselves? Because they have a self-destructive instinct? Today we might blame it on something else internal to the individual - a chemical imbalance. Reich argues that we need to be aware that religious institutions, schools and parents who teach children to fear the natural erotic processes of their own bodies can be the source of the neurotic impulse for them to hurt themselves. We shouldn’t make personal what may be political. The sections that were added later bring in discussion of orgone energy, but also widen the discussion of what constitutes psychological health and introduce the concept of “the emotional plague.”
The validity of Reich’s discussion of character armour is something which each of us can test through our observations of our own behaviour and that of others. Our personality consists of a more or less rigid character structure - a way of looking at ourselves and a mode of operating in the social world. The purpose of this structure is to protect us from threats internal and external. If we are criticised, it is to our character armour that we cling. This explains why even the most well-argued criticism of someone’s political views, for instance, far from leading them to change them, is liable to lead to them asserting them all the more strongly. Existential anxiety, sexual desires or repositories of repressed anger are examples of internal threats which may make us feel the need for our armour. This concept is a very important one because it focuses our awareness on the role of perceived threat on unhelpful intransigence. If we want to help someone to improve their behaviour we may have more luck if we first do what we can to make them feel safe, e.g. from judgement or criticism, and only then appeal to them through reason.
Body armour is the physical manifestation of character armour. The archetypal example is “the stiff upper-lip”. Our anxiety about certain physical sensations can cause us to chronically stiffen parts of our musculature. This may be a response to fear of erotic feelings, “orgasm anxiety”, but it may also be a way of repressing feelings of grief or the anxiety of trauma. Reich developed his own massage methods to deal with this. His discussion of blocks in the flow of “orgone energy” through different parts of the body is very similar to the Eastern concept of chakras.
It is with the concept of the “emotional plague” that Reich links the neurotic frustrations of the individual to the politics of society as a whole. In 1933, when the first part of this book was published, Reich was forced to flee Nazi Germany. What leads to such collective madness? According to Reich, there are three modes of psychological being. We may be healthy, in which case our body’s natural desires to love and be loved and engage in productive activity are being met. Or we may be neurotic, in which case the failure to satisfy our primary biological drives gives rise to secondary drives of a destructive nature which make repression necessary. In this case we may be a resigned, self-destructive, neurotic. But the other possibility is what he calls “the emotional plague” - a form of destructive social behaviour in which the sadistic secondary drives express themselves in behaviour which may range from gossiping about people to supporting an authoritarian political order to murder. Essentially all manifestations of the dark side of human behaviour can be understood as expressions of this form of disorder in which a natural drive is distorted through having to make its way through the character armour and is expressed as some form of hostility. Reich has given us a holistic framework for the process by which the human animal, whose primary biological orientation is toward love - not excluding its bodily erotic expression, comes to be capable of war, torture, rape, etc. From such a viewpoint we can see that we will make little progress in solving our problems by political means unless we also learn how to free up our character armour and reconnect with our original loving nature.
This is not a book to accept or reject as a whole. Some ideas may be well-founded, others may not. Reich, like Freud and Jung, had conservative attitudes to homosexuality, for instance. But if you are looking for answers to the big questions of human behaviour, you’ll find at least some of them here.
The challenge of reviewing one of his books is how to deal with the whole “orgone energy” issue. Reich was not a biologist or physicist. He came from the Freudian school of psychoanalysis, which was never based on the strict discipline characteristic of the hard sciences. He arrived at the concept of this cosmic energy from the basis of the physical experiences of himself and his patients. Some may be tempted to interpret what he says in the light of other, more recent, discoveries. A friend of mine suggested that what Reich describes as the flow of orgone through the body corresponds with the pathways by which we now know that the chemical oxytocin travels through the bloodstream. Reich believed that the orgone flowed most strongly at orgasm and orgasm produces oxytocin. Did sitting in orgone boxes help to heal people of their psychological or physical ailments? It seems likely that there would have been a placebo effect. Beyond that I’m happy with my ignorance. There are Reich supporters who claim the accumulators and cloudbusters work, but orgone energy never gained any currency amongst biologists or physicists.
Those who dismiss Reich on the basis of the grander claims make a big mistake. He arrived there by studying human behaviour, and it is in that field that his importance lies. Character Analysis was originally published in 1933 and then greatly expanded in 1948. It’s a book with a split personality which illustrates how much it’s author’s therapeutic ideas had changed over that time. In the main body of the work he introduces two of his most important ideas - character armour and body armour. The basic frame of reference here is still Freudian psychoanalysis, though Reich is already a heretic. He makes the case that Freud’s “death instinct” represents a denial of the responsibility of the psychiatrist to address those aspects of our culture which make us sick. Why does a mentally ill person hurt themselves? Because they have a self-destructive instinct? Today we might blame it on something else internal to the individual - a chemical imbalance. Reich argues that we need to be aware that religious institutions, schools and parents who teach children to fear the natural erotic processes of their own bodies can be the source of the neurotic impulse for them to hurt themselves. We shouldn’t make personal what may be political. The sections that were added later bring in discussion of orgone energy, but also widen the discussion of what constitutes psychological health and introduce the concept of “the emotional plague.”
The validity of Reich’s discussion of character armour is something which each of us can test through our observations of our own behaviour and that of others. Our personality consists of a more or less rigid character structure - a way of looking at ourselves and a mode of operating in the social world. The purpose of this structure is to protect us from threats internal and external. If we are criticised, it is to our character armour that we cling. This explains why even the most well-argued criticism of someone’s political views, for instance, far from leading them to change them, is liable to lead to them asserting them all the more strongly. Existential anxiety, sexual desires or repositories of repressed anger are examples of internal threats which may make us feel the need for our armour. This concept is a very important one because it focuses our awareness on the role of perceived threat on unhelpful intransigence. If we want to help someone to improve their behaviour we may have more luck if we first do what we can to make them feel safe, e.g. from judgement or criticism, and only then appeal to them through reason.
Body armour is the physical manifestation of character armour. The archetypal example is “the stiff upper-lip”. Our anxiety about certain physical sensations can cause us to chronically stiffen parts of our musculature. This may be a response to fear of erotic feelings, “orgasm anxiety”, but it may also be a way of repressing feelings of grief or the anxiety of trauma. Reich developed his own massage methods to deal with this. His discussion of blocks in the flow of “orgone energy” through different parts of the body is very similar to the Eastern concept of chakras.
It is with the concept of the “emotional plague” that Reich links the neurotic frustrations of the individual to the politics of society as a whole. In 1933, when the first part of this book was published, Reich was forced to flee Nazi Germany. What leads to such collective madness? According to Reich, there are three modes of psychological being. We may be healthy, in which case our body’s natural desires to love and be loved and engage in productive activity are being met. Or we may be neurotic, in which case the failure to satisfy our primary biological drives gives rise to secondary drives of a destructive nature which make repression necessary. In this case we may be a resigned, self-destructive, neurotic. But the other possibility is what he calls “the emotional plague” - a form of destructive social behaviour in which the sadistic secondary drives express themselves in behaviour which may range from gossiping about people to supporting an authoritarian political order to murder. Essentially all manifestations of the dark side of human behaviour can be understood as expressions of this form of disorder in which a natural drive is distorted through having to make its way through the character armour and is expressed as some form of hostility. Reich has given us a holistic framework for the process by which the human animal, whose primary biological orientation is toward love - not excluding its bodily erotic expression, comes to be capable of war, torture, rape, etc. From such a viewpoint we can see that we will make little progress in solving our problems by political means unless we also learn how to free up our character armour and reconnect with our original loving nature.
This is not a book to accept or reject as a whole. Some ideas may be well-founded, others may not. Reich, like Freud and Jung, had conservative attitudes to homosexuality, for instance. But if you are looking for answers to the big questions of human behaviour, you’ll find at least some of them here.
August 26, 2020
Ζόρικο βιβλίο αλλά το απόλαυσα , ειδικά αν σκεφτεί κανείς ότι είναι γραμμένο 90 χρόνια πριν... Διαβάζοντας το πρέπει να έχεις στ μυαλό σου ότι η ψυχιατρική επιστήμη έχει προχωρήσει πολύ από τότε που γράφτηκε το βιβλίο αυτό.. Αν κάποιος έχει την υπομονή, το χρόνο και το ενδιαφέρον να δει τις απαρχές της ψυχιατρικής ας το ξεκινήσει με πλήρη συνείδηση του τι ξεκινά να διαβάσει.
November 6, 2022
Wilhelm Reich'ın Karakter Analizi, her türlü nevrozun kökeninde bastırılmış içgüdüsel istekler ile egonun bunları savuşturan güçleri arasındaki çatışma olduğunu anlatıyor. İçgüdülerimizi dizginlemek için geliştirdiğimiz savunma mekanizmalarının karakterimizin mayasını oluşturduğunu vurguluyor. Örneğin şiddetle bastırılan bir cinsel arzu karşısında karşılaşılan yasaklayıcı tavırla birlikte kişinin geliştirdiği savunma mekanizması o arzuyu belli bir biçimde (bu biçimin çeşitler çok) reddetmek ise bunun ileriki yıllarda kendini belli bir karakter ve davranış biçimi ile gösterdiğini söylüyor. Bu yüzden belki de bilinçdışında ne tür mekanizmalar işlettiğimizi fark etmek yetmiyor, farkındalığın üstüne bir de uzun, hem analitik hem içsel bir yolculuğun gerçekleşmesi, bilinçdışının zaman içinde işlenerek dönüştürülmesi gerekiyor.
Kitaptan kişisel olarak çok yararlandım. Ama bir romancı olarak da karakter yaratırken nerelere bakmak gerektiğiyle ilgili aydınlandım. Bir karakterin psikolojisini kurarken, olay örgüsünde neden sonuç ilişkilerini inşa ederken yararlanılabilecek iyi bir kaynak olduğunu düşünüyorum.
Bu arada kitabın psikanaliz alanındaki pek çok tartışmaya ışık tuttuğunu, Reich’ın kuramsal bakışının Freud’un ölüm içgüdüsü teorisine itiraz üzerine kurulduğunu da ekleyeyim. Meraklısına…
#okudumbitti #bookstagram #bookoftheday #psikanaliz #wilhelmreich #karakteranalizi
Kitaptan kişisel olarak çok yararlandım. Ama bir romancı olarak da karakter yaratırken nerelere bakmak gerektiğiyle ilgili aydınlandım. Bir karakterin psikolojisini kurarken, olay örgüsünde neden sonuç ilişkilerini inşa ederken yararlanılabilecek iyi bir kaynak olduğunu düşünüyorum.
Bu arada kitabın psikanaliz alanındaki pek çok tartışmaya ışık tuttuğunu, Reich’ın kuramsal bakışının Freud’un ölüm içgüdüsü teorisine itiraz üzerine kurulduğunu da ekleyeyim. Meraklısına…
#okudumbitti #bookstagram #bookoftheday #psikanaliz #wilhelmreich #karakteranalizi
April 26, 2023
Büyük yükümlülüğümüz şudur : "Beşeri hayvanın, kendi içindeki doğayı kabullenmesini, bundan kaçmayı bırakmasını ve halen o kadar korktuğu şeyin keyfini çıkarmasını sağlamak"
Kitapta altı yüz küsür sayfa boyunca cinsellik psikanalizi üzerine teoriler üreten ve döneminde oldukça ses getiren William Reich'in yine bu çerçevede bir terapi esnasında psikanaliz seyrini değiştirecek ve temellendirecek yol haritalarını içeriyor diyebiliriz.
Reich, doğal bir ihtiyaç olan cinselliğin, olagelen tabu ve bastırılmış yüzüyle mücadele ederken açığa çıkan nevrotik ve psikomatik hastalıkların çözümünün, hastanın doğal sevisel yaşamına vurduğu ketleri aşmadan çözülemeyeceğini öne sürer. Hatta bir terapiye başlamadan evvel kişilerin düzenli olarak cinselliği yaşayıp yaşamadığının bilinmesinin bile önemli olduğuna, terapi yaklaşımından belirleyici unsur olduğuna değinir. Bunun ötesinde, mazoşizm, çocukluktaki fobi ve karakter oluşumu, duygusal veba, orgon terapisi, şizofren bölünme, temas yokluğu gibi bölümler oldukça açıklayıcı ve ilgi çekiciydi. Özellikle şizofren bölünme bölümünde bir örnek hasta üzerinden seansların detayları paylaşılmıştı. Duygusal vebada, doğal hareket etme becerisini doğumundan itibaren olanaksız kılınan kişinin yapay hareket etme becerisi kazanmasına, kendini de terapistini de bu yapaylığa iknasında oldukça iyi olmasına değinir. Ağırlıklı olarak sosyal yaşamda eylemle, eyleme verdiği tepkisi ölçüşmeyen nevrotik bir davranış şeklinde açığa çıkar, der.
Bu ve daha birçok psikanaliz teorisinin tartışıldığı, müthiş bir kaynak kitap diyebilirim. Okumamı bilinçli şekilde yavaşlattım ve uzun bir zamanımı alsa da oldukça doyurucu bir okuma oldu benim için.
Kitapta altı yüz küsür sayfa boyunca cinsellik psikanalizi üzerine teoriler üreten ve döneminde oldukça ses getiren William Reich'in yine bu çerçevede bir terapi esnasında psikanaliz seyrini değiştirecek ve temellendirecek yol haritalarını içeriyor diyebiliriz.
Reich, doğal bir ihtiyaç olan cinselliğin, olagelen tabu ve bastırılmış yüzüyle mücadele ederken açığa çıkan nevrotik ve psikomatik hastalıkların çözümünün, hastanın doğal sevisel yaşamına vurduğu ketleri aşmadan çözülemeyeceğini öne sürer. Hatta bir terapiye başlamadan evvel kişilerin düzenli olarak cinselliği yaşayıp yaşamadığının bilinmesinin bile önemli olduğuna, terapi yaklaşımından belirleyici unsur olduğuna değinir. Bunun ötesinde, mazoşizm, çocukluktaki fobi ve karakter oluşumu, duygusal veba, orgon terapisi, şizofren bölünme, temas yokluğu gibi bölümler oldukça açıklayıcı ve ilgi çekiciydi. Özellikle şizofren bölünme bölümünde bir örnek hasta üzerinden seansların detayları paylaşılmıştı. Duygusal vebada, doğal hareket etme becerisini doğumundan itibaren olanaksız kılınan kişinin yapay hareket etme becerisi kazanmasına, kendini de terapistini de bu yapaylığa iknasında oldukça iyi olmasına değinir. Ağırlıklı olarak sosyal yaşamda eylemle, eyleme verdiği tepkisi ölçüşmeyen nevrotik bir davranış şeklinde açığa çıkar, der.
Bu ve daha birçok psikanaliz teorisinin tartışıldığı, müthiş bir kaynak kitap diyebilirim. Okumamı bilinçli şekilde yavaşlattım ve uzun bir zamanımı alsa da oldukça doyurucu bir okuma oldu benim için.
November 2, 2018
Reich is not an easy read. This book is all over the place. At the start, he assumes the reader is a psychoanalyst and then half way through he starts explaining concepts that he brushed over in the previous chapters.
This is a shame because he seems to me to be an intelligent man and understanding of his patients. His theories are interesting but I would suggest Alexander Lowens books if you wanted to understand Reichs concepts and the actual therapy practice.
This is a shame because he seems to me to be an intelligent man and understanding of his patients. His theories are interesting but I would suggest Alexander Lowens books if you wanted to understand Reichs concepts and the actual therapy practice.
May 24, 2016
Wilhelm would have been great psychoanalyst and research if he hasn't gone insane with this whole "orgone" energy thing. Another case of seeing what you want to see, rather than what is. I do understand where he came from though...our society intolerance of honest discussion of all things sexual is still persisting and damaging us all.
March 5, 2013
By far Reich's best book of all the ones I've read. I've never thought his Orgone energy ideas had much credibility, but this was written when he was an active leftist and still in most ways a Freudian analyst. Certainly much better than anything Carl Jung ever wrote.
September 18, 2024
ONE OF REICH'S MOST SIGNIFICANT WRITINGS
Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) was an Austrian psychoanalyst, who tried to reconcile psychoanalysis with Marxism, and contended that neurosis is rooted in a lack of what he called "orgastic potency." He claimed to have discovered a cosmic sexual energy he called “Orgone,” self-publishing books about his increasingly controversial theories, and selling “Orgone Accumulator” boxes commercially, for which he was ultimately imprisoned for violation of FDA regulations, had his books burned, and died in prison. He continues to be a popular (if polarizing) figure, and his books are all still in print, such as 'Early Writings,' 'The Mass Psychology of Fascism,' 'Selected Writings: An Introduction to Orgonomy,' 'The Bion Experiments,' 'Listen, Little Man!,' 'Murder of Christ,' etc.
He wrote in the Preface to the First Edition (1933) of this book, "I have endeavored to demonstrate that neuroses are the results of a home atmosphere that is patriarchal and sexually suppressive; that, moreover, the only prophylaxis worthy of serious consideration is one for the practical implementation of which the present social system lacks every prerequisite; that it is only a thorough turnover of social institutions and ideologies, a turnover that will be dependent upon the outcome of political struggles of our century, which will create the preconditions for an extensive prophylaxis of neuroses." (Pg. xxi)
He admits, "I have nothing to add to Freud's principles on the interpretation of the unconscious and his general formula that the analytic work depends on the elimination of the resistances and the handling of the transference." (Pg. 9)
He states, "The far-reaching importance of genitality, or ... of orgastic impotence for the etiology of the neurosis was set forth in my book The Function of the Orgasm),. It wasn't until its implications for the theory of the actual neurosis were shown that the genital function became theoretically important---for investigations of the character also. Suddenly it was clear ... [that] the 'somatic sore of the neurosis' ... results from dammed-up libido." (Pg. 14)
He adds, "the patient must, through analysis, arrive at a regulated and gratifying genital life---if he is to be cured and permanently so." (Pg. 15)
He argues, "the analyst will have to bear in mind that, because his professional activity is in sharp opposition to the majority of conventional society, he will be persecuted, ridiculed, and slandered unless he prefers to make concessions, at the expense of his theoretical and practical convictions, to a social order directly and irreconcilably opposed to the requirements of the therapy of the neurosis." (Pg. 149)
He suggests, "this work represents only a small beginning toward a genetic theory of types... Its task is momentarily fulfilled if it can succeed in convincing us that Freud's libido theory, unrestricted and consistently thought through, is the only legitimate foundation for psychoanalytic characterology." (Pg. 193)
Later, he adds, "the aspects of our cultural life which appear to be self-destructive are not manifestations of 'instincts of self-annihilation'; they are manifestations of very real destructive intentions on the part of an authoritarian society interested in the suppression of sexuality." (Pg. 281)
He asserts, "the striving after non-existence, nirvana, death, is identical with the striving after orgastic release, i.e., the most essential experience of the living organism." (Pg. 336)
He contends, "Cosmic orgone energy functions in the living organism as specific biological energy. As such, it governs the entire organism; it is expressed in the emotions as well as in the purely biophysical movements of the organs. Thus... psychiatry took root in objective, natural scientific processes." (Pg. 356)
At the end of the book, he explains, "I have never been mentally ill, nor have I ever been confined to a mental institution. I have borne to the present day one of the heaviest burdens ever imposed on a man, without any disturbance to my capacity for work and love." (Pg. 527)
He adds, "when some physician or another files suit against an orgonomist because of some 'illegal activity'; when a politician accuses an orgonomist of 'tax fraud,' 'child seduction,' espionage'...; when we hear rumors that some orgonomist or another is mentally ill, seduces his patients, operates an illegal brothel, etc., then we know that we are dealing with police or political tactics and not with scientific arguments." He concludes, "it is solely the reestablishment of the natural love-life of children, adolescents, and adults which can rid the world of character neuroses and... the emotional plague in its various forms." (Pg. 539)
Reich's writings were, and are, very controversial. But this is definitely one of his most important, and will be of great interest to students of his writings.
Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) was an Austrian psychoanalyst, who tried to reconcile psychoanalysis with Marxism, and contended that neurosis is rooted in a lack of what he called "orgastic potency." He claimed to have discovered a cosmic sexual energy he called “Orgone,” self-publishing books about his increasingly controversial theories, and selling “Orgone Accumulator” boxes commercially, for which he was ultimately imprisoned for violation of FDA regulations, had his books burned, and died in prison. He continues to be a popular (if polarizing) figure, and his books are all still in print, such as 'Early Writings,' 'The Mass Psychology of Fascism,' 'Selected Writings: An Introduction to Orgonomy,' 'The Bion Experiments,' 'Listen, Little Man!,' 'Murder of Christ,' etc.
He wrote in the Preface to the First Edition (1933) of this book, "I have endeavored to demonstrate that neuroses are the results of a home atmosphere that is patriarchal and sexually suppressive; that, moreover, the only prophylaxis worthy of serious consideration is one for the practical implementation of which the present social system lacks every prerequisite; that it is only a thorough turnover of social institutions and ideologies, a turnover that will be dependent upon the outcome of political struggles of our century, which will create the preconditions for an extensive prophylaxis of neuroses." (Pg. xxi)
He admits, "I have nothing to add to Freud's principles on the interpretation of the unconscious and his general formula that the analytic work depends on the elimination of the resistances and the handling of the transference." (Pg. 9)
He states, "The far-reaching importance of genitality, or ... of orgastic impotence for the etiology of the neurosis was set forth in my book The Function of the Orgasm),. It wasn't until its implications for the theory of the actual neurosis were shown that the genital function became theoretically important---for investigations of the character also. Suddenly it was clear ... [that] the 'somatic sore of the neurosis' ... results from dammed-up libido." (Pg. 14)
He adds, "the patient must, through analysis, arrive at a regulated and gratifying genital life---if he is to be cured and permanently so." (Pg. 15)
He argues, "the analyst will have to bear in mind that, because his professional activity is in sharp opposition to the majority of conventional society, he will be persecuted, ridiculed, and slandered unless he prefers to make concessions, at the expense of his theoretical and practical convictions, to a social order directly and irreconcilably opposed to the requirements of the therapy of the neurosis." (Pg. 149)
He suggests, "this work represents only a small beginning toward a genetic theory of types... Its task is momentarily fulfilled if it can succeed in convincing us that Freud's libido theory, unrestricted and consistently thought through, is the only legitimate foundation for psychoanalytic characterology." (Pg. 193)
Later, he adds, "the aspects of our cultural life which appear to be self-destructive are not manifestations of 'instincts of self-annihilation'; they are manifestations of very real destructive intentions on the part of an authoritarian society interested in the suppression of sexuality." (Pg. 281)
He asserts, "the striving after non-existence, nirvana, death, is identical with the striving after orgastic release, i.e., the most essential experience of the living organism." (Pg. 336)
He contends, "Cosmic orgone energy functions in the living organism as specific biological energy. As such, it governs the entire organism; it is expressed in the emotions as well as in the purely biophysical movements of the organs. Thus... psychiatry took root in objective, natural scientific processes." (Pg. 356)
At the end of the book, he explains, "I have never been mentally ill, nor have I ever been confined to a mental institution. I have borne to the present day one of the heaviest burdens ever imposed on a man, without any disturbance to my capacity for work and love." (Pg. 527)
He adds, "when some physician or another files suit against an orgonomist because of some 'illegal activity'; when a politician accuses an orgonomist of 'tax fraud,' 'child seduction,' espionage'...; when we hear rumors that some orgonomist or another is mentally ill, seduces his patients, operates an illegal brothel, etc., then we know that we are dealing with police or political tactics and not with scientific arguments." He concludes, "it is solely the reestablishment of the natural love-life of children, adolescents, and adults which can rid the world of character neuroses and... the emotional plague in its various forms." (Pg. 539)
Reich's writings were, and are, very controversial. But this is definitely one of his most important, and will be of great interest to students of his writings.
research
November 21, 2022
Character Analysis
Wilhelm Reich
PART ONE: TECHNIQUE
1. SOME PROBLEMS OF THE PSYCHOANALYTIC TECHNIQUE
2. THE ECONOMIC VIEWPOINT IN THE THEORY OF ANALYTIC THERAPY
3. ON THE TECHNIQUE OF INTERPRETATION AND OF RESISTANCE ANALYSIS
3.1. Some typical errors in the technique of interpretation and their consequences
3.2. Systematic interpretation and resistance analysis
3.3. Consistency in resistance analysis
4. ON THE TECHNIQUE OF CHARACTER ANALYSIS
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Character armoring and character resistance
4.2.1. The inability to follow the basic rule
4.2.2. Where do the character resistances come from?
4.2.3. On the technique of analyzing the character resistance
4.2.4. The technique of dealing with individual situations as derived from the structure of the character resistance
4.2.5. The breaking down of the narcissistic defense apparatus
4.2.6. On the optimal conditions for the analytic reduction to the infantile situation from the contemporary situation
4.2.7. Character analysis in the case of abundantly flowing material
4.3. A case of passive-feminine character
4.3.1. Anamnesis
4.3.2. The development and analysis of the character resistance
4.3.3. Linking the analysis of the contemporary material to the infantile
4.4. Summary
5. INDICATIONS AND DANGERS OF CHARACTER ANALYSIS
6. ON THE HANDLING OF THE TRANSFERANCE
6.1. The Distillation of the genital-object libido
6.2. Secondary narcissism, negative transference, and insight into illness
6.3. On the handling of the absistence rule
6.4. On the question of the “dissolution” of the positive transference
6.5. A few remarks about counter-transference
PART TWO: THEORY OF CHARACTER FORMATION
7. THE CHARACTEROLOGICAL RESOLUTION OF THE INFANTILE SEXUAL CONFLICT
7.1. Content and form of psychic reactions
7.2. The function of character formation
7.3. Conditions of character differentiation
8. THE GENITAL CHARACTER AND THE NEUROTIC CHARACTER (THE SEX-ECONOMIC FUNCTION OF THE CHARACTER ARMOR)
8.1. Character and sexual stasis
8.2. The libido-economic difference between the genital character and the neurotic character
8.2.1. Structure of the id
8.2.2. Structure of the superego
8.2.3. Structure of the ego
8.3. Sublimation, reaction formation, and neurotic reaction basis
9. CHILDHOOD PHOBIA AND CHARACTER FORMATION
9.1. An “aristocratic” character
9.2. Overcoming of childhood phobia by the formation of character attitudes
10. SOME CIRCUMSCRIBED CHARACTER FORMS
10.1. The hysterical character
10.2. The compulsive character
10.3. The phallic-narcissistic character
11. THE MASOCHISTIC CHARACTER
11.1. Summary of view
11.2. The armoring of the masochistic character
11.3. Inhibited exhibitionism and the passion for self-deprecation
11.4. Unpleasurable perception of the increase of sexual excitation: the specific basis of the masochistic character
11.5. Observations on the therapy of masochism
12. SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE BASIC CONFLICT BETWEEN NEED AND OUTER WORLD
PART THREE: FROM PSYCHOANALYSIS TO ORGONE BIOPHYSICS
13. PSYCHIC CONTACT AND VEGETATIVE CURRENT
Preface
13.1. More about the conflict between instinct and outer world
13.2. Some technical presuppositions
13.3. The change of function of the impulse
13.4. The intellect as defense function
13.5. The interlacing of the instinctual defenses
13.6. Contactlessness
13.7. Substitute contact
13.8. The psychic representation of the organic
13.8.1. The idea of “bursting”
13.8.2. On the idea of death
13.9. Pleasure, anxiety, anger, and muscular armor
13.10. The two great leaps in evolution
14. THE EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE OF THE LIVING
14.1. The function of emotion in orgone therapy
14.2. Plasmatic expressive movement and emotional expression
14.3. The segmental arrangement of the armor
14.4. The emotional expression of the orgasm reflex and sexual superimposition
15. THE SCHIZOPHRENIC SPLIT
15.1. The “devil” in the schizophrenic process
15.2. The “forces”
15.3. The remote schizophrenic expression in the eyes
15.4. The breakthrough of the depersonalization and the first understanding of the schizophrenic split
15.5. The interdependence of consciousness and self-perception
15.6. The rational function of the “devilish evil”
15.7. Anorgonotic regions in the catatonic state
15.8. The function of self-damage in schizophrenia
15.9. Crisis and recovery
16. THE EMOTIONAL PLAGUE
Index
(c) Farrar, Straus and Giroux
NEW YORK
ISBN 978-0-374-50980-4
Library of Congress catalog card number: 70-163663
Wilhelm Reich
PART ONE: TECHNIQUE
1. SOME PROBLEMS OF THE PSYCHOANALYTIC TECHNIQUE
2. THE ECONOMIC VIEWPOINT IN THE THEORY OF ANALYTIC THERAPY
3. ON THE TECHNIQUE OF INTERPRETATION AND OF RESISTANCE ANALYSIS
3.1. Some typical errors in the technique of interpretation and their consequences
3.2. Systematic interpretation and resistance analysis
3.3. Consistency in resistance analysis
4. ON THE TECHNIQUE OF CHARACTER ANALYSIS
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Character armoring and character resistance
4.2.1. The inability to follow the basic rule
4.2.2. Where do the character resistances come from?
4.2.3. On the technique of analyzing the character resistance
4.2.4. The technique of dealing with individual situations as derived from the structure of the character resistance
4.2.5. The breaking down of the narcissistic defense apparatus
4.2.6. On the optimal conditions for the analytic reduction to the infantile situation from the contemporary situation
4.2.7. Character analysis in the case of abundantly flowing material
4.3. A case of passive-feminine character
4.3.1. Anamnesis
4.3.2. The development and analysis of the character resistance
4.3.3. Linking the analysis of the contemporary material to the infantile
4.4. Summary
5. INDICATIONS AND DANGERS OF CHARACTER ANALYSIS
6. ON THE HANDLING OF THE TRANSFERANCE
6.1. The Distillation of the genital-object libido
6.2. Secondary narcissism, negative transference, and insight into illness
6.3. On the handling of the absistence rule
6.4. On the question of the “dissolution” of the positive transference
6.5. A few remarks about counter-transference
PART TWO: THEORY OF CHARACTER FORMATION
7. THE CHARACTEROLOGICAL RESOLUTION OF THE INFANTILE SEXUAL CONFLICT
7.1. Content and form of psychic reactions
7.2. The function of character formation
7.3. Conditions of character differentiation
8. THE GENITAL CHARACTER AND THE NEUROTIC CHARACTER (THE SEX-ECONOMIC FUNCTION OF THE CHARACTER ARMOR)
8.1. Character and sexual stasis
8.2. The libido-economic difference between the genital character and the neurotic character
8.2.1. Structure of the id
8.2.2. Structure of the superego
8.2.3. Structure of the ego
8.3. Sublimation, reaction formation, and neurotic reaction basis
9. CHILDHOOD PHOBIA AND CHARACTER FORMATION
9.1. An “aristocratic” character
9.2. Overcoming of childhood phobia by the formation of character attitudes
10. SOME CIRCUMSCRIBED CHARACTER FORMS
10.1. The hysterical character
10.2. The compulsive character
10.3. The phallic-narcissistic character
11. THE MASOCHISTIC CHARACTER
11.1. Summary of view
11.2. The armoring of the masochistic character
11.3. Inhibited exhibitionism and the passion for self-deprecation
11.4. Unpleasurable perception of the increase of sexual excitation: the specific basis of the masochistic character
11.5. Observations on the therapy of masochism
12. SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE BASIC CONFLICT BETWEEN NEED AND OUTER WORLD
PART THREE: FROM PSYCHOANALYSIS TO ORGONE BIOPHYSICS
13. PSYCHIC CONTACT AND VEGETATIVE CURRENT
Preface
13.1. More about the conflict between instinct and outer world
13.2. Some technical presuppositions
13.3. The change of function of the impulse
13.4. The intellect as defense function
13.5. The interlacing of the instinctual defenses
13.6. Contactlessness
13.7. Substitute contact
13.8. The psychic representation of the organic
13.8.1. The idea of “bursting”
13.8.2. On the idea of death
13.9. Pleasure, anxiety, anger, and muscular armor
13.10. The two great leaps in evolution
14. THE EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE OF THE LIVING
14.1. The function of emotion in orgone therapy
14.2. Plasmatic expressive movement and emotional expression
14.3. The segmental arrangement of the armor
14.4. The emotional expression of the orgasm reflex and sexual superimposition
15. THE SCHIZOPHRENIC SPLIT
15.1. The “devil” in the schizophrenic process
15.2. The “forces”
15.3. The remote schizophrenic expression in the eyes
15.4. The breakthrough of the depersonalization and the first understanding of the schizophrenic split
15.5. The interdependence of consciousness and self-perception
15.6. The rational function of the “devilish evil”
15.7. Anorgonotic regions in the catatonic state
15.8. The function of self-damage in schizophrenia
15.9. Crisis and recovery
16. THE EMOTIONAL PLAGUE
Index
(c) Farrar, Straus and Giroux
NEW YORK
ISBN 978-0-374-50980-4
Library of Congress catalog card number: 70-163663
June 7, 2018
An Immense work, (to say nothing of its size, the book is enormous) and a critical contemporary to freud's Psychoanalytical revolution. This book was an exciting read for me in order to further flesh out my palette of psychoanalytical concepts. Though Wilhelm Reich became quite demented in his later years after suffering under the United States body politic, his earlier works stand the test of time as some of the most original compositions in the canon of Freudian and post-freudian literary achievements.
Character Analysis is a book that gives a rough template of some of the ramifications of freudian theory as it relates to bio-physical socially adaptive processes. It outlines complex anxious behavior from within the sexually repressed and dreary outlook of Victorian society. Though at times this book falters in its oversimplification of sexual economy and certain typical Victorian generalizations, it stands as one of the most significant challenges to Freud's theorization of the "Death Instinct" to date.
In this work Reich attempts to establish to the reader the intimate connection between Anxiety, Sexuality, and Social Power Struggles as they manifest in the smallest arenas of social hierarchy and the highest arches of Political movements. It is apparent that Reich's method of description may seem quite dated to us, carrying a certain pictorial charm only too familiar to the early 20th century. It binds together concepts of Social and Sexual Economy as the primary factors in the generation of Mental Illness and widespread human misery.
Reich establishes the concept of "Character Armor" as the agonist upon which most every Neurotic behavior set manifest and exist within. These Behavior sets are the result of specific relationships to authority borne out both during and after adolescence. Reich's Revolutionary work sets out to distinguish the fundamental relationship in nature that exists in the extensions of Sexuality as more than just a reproductive phenomenon, but as a Stress regulation mechanism intimately related to unconscious conflict arbitration.
As a standalone work, it represents a powerful reference in the larger canon of work concentrating on the anthropological basis for, and expression of socially determined habit formations. For those interested in the man, and not the Mystic, Wilhelm Reich, this is the Magnum Opus.
Character Analysis is a book that gives a rough template of some of the ramifications of freudian theory as it relates to bio-physical socially adaptive processes. It outlines complex anxious behavior from within the sexually repressed and dreary outlook of Victorian society. Though at times this book falters in its oversimplification of sexual economy and certain typical Victorian generalizations, it stands as one of the most significant challenges to Freud's theorization of the "Death Instinct" to date.
In this work Reich attempts to establish to the reader the intimate connection between Anxiety, Sexuality, and Social Power Struggles as they manifest in the smallest arenas of social hierarchy and the highest arches of Political movements. It is apparent that Reich's method of description may seem quite dated to us, carrying a certain pictorial charm only too familiar to the early 20th century. It binds together concepts of Social and Sexual Economy as the primary factors in the generation of Mental Illness and widespread human misery.
Reich establishes the concept of "Character Armor" as the agonist upon which most every Neurotic behavior set manifest and exist within. These Behavior sets are the result of specific relationships to authority borne out both during and after adolescence. Reich's Revolutionary work sets out to distinguish the fundamental relationship in nature that exists in the extensions of Sexuality as more than just a reproductive phenomenon, but as a Stress regulation mechanism intimately related to unconscious conflict arbitration.
As a standalone work, it represents a powerful reference in the larger canon of work concentrating on the anthropological basis for, and expression of socially determined habit formations. For those interested in the man, and not the Mystic, Wilhelm Reich, this is the Magnum Opus.
October 7, 2024
Reich’s major attempted contribution to Freud’s psychoanalytic movement. He was ultimately excommunicated from the Freudians for his heretical ideas and past political baggage. The book discusses the primacy of an analyst to address the patient’s “character armor” or resistances before any further treatment can go on. He breaks down the typical manifestations of these: compulsive types, masochist types, etc. He gives thorough case studies of each and the approach taken that led to a successful conclusion.
One major departure from Freud was the rejection of Freud’s theory of Thanatos or the “Death Drive”, which Freud felt was the reason behind a patient’s resistance to therapy. Reich believed these were manifestations of the character armor that need their own treatment.
His largest departure from Freud was his theory of Orgone, a cosmic energy emanating from the Sun and the source of life that could be roughly thought of as the Chinese concept of chi. Orgone must flow from head to genitals and healthy orgasms are essential for this flow. Blockages are treated through Reich’s blend of psychological and physical therapy.
The techniques he describes are very unconventional, involving inducing the gag reflex, sitting in “Orgone accumulators”, and a focus on the sexual function of the patient. He encourages a female schizophrenic patient to choke him, later has to disarm her when she attacks him with a knife, and she later has a full recovery. Despite his apparent bravado and unorthodox approach, he was clearly a highly intelligent man.
One major departure from Freud was the rejection of Freud’s theory of Thanatos or the “Death Drive”, which Freud felt was the reason behind a patient’s resistance to therapy. Reich believed these were manifestations of the character armor that need their own treatment.
His largest departure from Freud was his theory of Orgone, a cosmic energy emanating from the Sun and the source of life that could be roughly thought of as the Chinese concept of chi. Orgone must flow from head to genitals and healthy orgasms are essential for this flow. Blockages are treated through Reich’s blend of psychological and physical therapy.
The techniques he describes are very unconventional, involving inducing the gag reflex, sitting in “Orgone accumulators”, and a focus on the sexual function of the patient. He encourages a female schizophrenic patient to choke him, later has to disarm her when she attacks him with a knife, and she later has a full recovery. Despite his apparent bravado and unorthodox approach, he was clearly a highly intelligent man.
Read
July 18, 2025Man I just got back to goodreads after a decade. I can't remember everything about this but it was an interesting post freuding waste of time centered around people's character types stemming from their ability or inability to enjoy authentic "genital potency" which i guess was Reich's way of saying that a man should be able to enjoy orgasming from the stimulation of his penis and a woman her Vulva. All sorts of wonky conclusions are drawn up and expanded upon based on impotency or anal or oral fixation and I guess well the whole thing is debunked and irrelevant now with modern Psychology so unless you're interested in reading this to understand the history and development of psychology as a field, save yourself the time and skip. Although I remember reading the mass psychology of fascism by Reich and you'll find the first half of that book incredibly relevant in our current Trumpian era.
January 29, 2021
Reich's psychotic break is on full display in the third section; there's some interesting if eccentric ideas in the second section; the first section is one of the most valuable sections that I as a therapist-in-training have read, containing a useful model of how to implement a certain type of psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Would recommend the first and maybe second sections to anyone learning to be a clinician.
January 20, 2025
An interesting read. He has so many sound theories in this book, it’s hard to understand how he went kinda loopy immediately following it. Even the introduction of Orgone at the end and the concept of The Emotional Plague really makes sense.
November 29, 2017
Thank you, Wilhem.
June 5, 2018
Great Precursor to Bioenergetics. Teaches you hopw to read trauma from posture and behaviour.
August 18, 2019
La coraza caracterológica
December 30, 2019
Great
That's all...
I dont want to write any more. Read it yourself if you're interested. And good luck to you.
That's all...
I dont want to write any more. Read it yourself if you're interested. And good luck to you.
November 4, 2020
Reich is an interesting guy. I could say so much more but the truth is you will either be in awe or in horror of this guy.
March 7, 2021
Teaches you a lot where we are and where we could/would be.
April 18, 2021
Reich'ın vakalarına ait süreçler işleniyor. Klasiklerindendir, Reich'ı anlamak için kilit bir kitaptır
February 9, 2024
A major masterpiece of psychology. Every page of this gripping tome is loaded with insight.
September 17, 2025
Wilhelm Reich I’m listening heavy
January 18, 2024
Unraveling the Human Psyche: A Wild Ride through Wilhelm Reich’s ‘Character Analysis'
"Character Analysis" by Wilhelm Reich is a tour de force in the world of psychoanalysis, a veritable "Game of Thrones" of the psyche. It's like a treasure map to the human mind, but instead of 'X marks the spot,' you get muscular spasms and character attitudes.
Reich, the Indiana Jones of psychoanalysis, takes us on a journey through the labyrinth of the human personality. His concept of "character armor" is as revolutionary as it is hard to penetrate, much like the shell of a particularly stubborn oyster. But inside, instead of a pearl, you find insights into your own behavior that are as illuminating as a lighthouse on a stormy night.
The book is not for the faint of heart. It's as complex as a Rubik's cube and requires the mental agility of a chess grandmaster to fully grasp. But those who persevere will be rewarded with a deep understanding of therapy and the human condition.
Reich's exploration of the fascist personality type is as sharp and precise as a surgeon's scalpel, dissecting historical and contemporary political figures with clinical precision.
In short, "Character Analysis" is the Swiss Army knife of psychoanalysis books. It's a must-read for anyone brave enough to dive into the depths of their own psyche. So buckle up, because it's going to be a wild ride!
"Character Analysis" by Wilhelm Reich is a tour de force in the world of psychoanalysis, a veritable "Game of Thrones" of the psyche. It's like a treasure map to the human mind, but instead of 'X marks the spot,' you get muscular spasms and character attitudes.
Reich, the Indiana Jones of psychoanalysis, takes us on a journey through the labyrinth of the human personality. His concept of "character armor" is as revolutionary as it is hard to penetrate, much like the shell of a particularly stubborn oyster. But inside, instead of a pearl, you find insights into your own behavior that are as illuminating as a lighthouse on a stormy night.
The book is not for the faint of heart. It's as complex as a Rubik's cube and requires the mental agility of a chess grandmaster to fully grasp. But those who persevere will be rewarded with a deep understanding of therapy and the human condition.
Reich's exploration of the fascist personality type is as sharp and precise as a surgeon's scalpel, dissecting historical and contemporary political figures with clinical precision.
In short, "Character Analysis" is the Swiss Army knife of psychoanalysis books. It's a must-read for anyone brave enough to dive into the depths of their own psyche. So buckle up, because it's going to be a wild ride!
February 10, 2016
A must read to anyone interested in how their inner complexes manifest in everyday life. Real comphrehensive through the many aspects of Chracter analysis, and the origins of the emotinal plague, steps to restore patients to n orgiastic stte instead of hve them suffer with nouroses, become psychotic, or whtnot. Describes many case studies in detail, and also includes the brilliant essy on the Schizhophrenic Split, a malady even Reich never got to the bottom of. That being said, it is real sad to see this brilliant psychiatrist toady being pretty much forgotten in the litterature, all the while a number of poeple are getting very well by rebranding his techniques, and calling it their own "discovery" while omitting several crucial components while deling with the puzzling nature of the human mind.
November 4, 2010
When I read it as a student in Tübingen in the 70s - I wrote 2 notes in this book: Lordose page 382 and Orgasmusreflex page 388 - besides I underlined many sentences and even whole paragraphs and pages - in short, it reflected exactly my thinking and described my feelings etc... (dali48)
December 19, 2008
Y aquí descubrí que el psicoanálisis no es lo mío. Rly.
December 20, 2016
I don't think I have all the knowledge needed to fully understand this book but Reich never seems to convince me, although there are some interesting parts in his work.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews