Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich | |
---|---|
Born | Dobrzanica, Galicia,Austria-Hungary | March 24, 1897
Died | November 3, 1957 | (aged 60)
Citizenship | Austria,United States |
Alma mater | University of Vienna |
Known for | The Sexual Revolution |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Psychiatry,Psychoanalysis |
Influences | Sigmund Freud,Karl Marx |
Influenced | Alexander Lowen,Fritz Perls,Ronald Laing |
Wilhelm Reich(March 24, 1897 – November 3, 1957) was anAustrian-Americanpsychiatristandpsychoanalyst.In the 1920s he was a pupil ofSigmund FreudinViennaand made important contributions to psychoanalysis (Charakteranalyse1933; engl. 1945ff). His work was rediscovered by the activists of thesexual revolutionof the 1960s and 1970s.
During the 1920s Reich became involved in the social struggles of the time. In 1927 he joined theCommunist Party.There he founded "SexPol", short for Sexual Politics. In 1933 he was kicked off from the Party, and in 1934 from the organisations of Psychoanalysis. At this time he started his own research on the biological foundations of psychoanalysis, later on called "orgonomy". Orgonomy was to be the science of orgone, a "primordial energy" Reich claimed to have discovered.
The other side of Reich's story is that he was blamed to have invented apseudosciencemethod for treatingcancer.He was exposed as afraudin 1947 articles by journalistMildred Edie Brady,published in the magazinesHarper'sandThe New Republic,the latter titled "The Strange Case of Wilhelm Reich," with the subhead, "The man who blames both neuroses and cancer on unsatisfactory sexual activities has been repudiated by only one scientific journal".[1]TheFood and Drug Administration(FDA) decided that they were dealing with a "fraud of the first magnitude".
Finally, in 1956 Reich violated an injunction got by the FDA, and was arrested. All his research equipment including his books was destroyed. He was sentenced to two years prison. Reich died on 3 November 1957 (aged 60) in the United StatesPenitentiary,Lewisburg,Pennsylvania,Opinions about him remain very divided.[2]
Reich had founded "Orgonon" inRangeley, Maineafter immigrating to the US. It was his 175-acre (71 ha) home,laboratoryandresearchcenter, and also Reich's burial place. It is now open to the public as theWilhelm Reich Museum.
References
[change|change source]- ↑Brady, April 1947;Brady, 26 May 1947.
- ↑Rycroft, Charles 1971.Reich.London: Fontana Modern Masters.ISBN 0006326188