Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957)
Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) was an Austrian-American psychoanalyst and psychiatrist and one of Sigmund Freud's contemporaries. He became well-known after he claimed to have discovered a physical energy he called 'orgone' that was present in the atmosphere and in all living matter and that could be harnessed for health benefits. Reich did research on social neuroses and agreed with Freud that sexual development was the root of mental disorder. He developed a theory that feeling romantic love depended on one's ability to experience what he called 'orgastic potency'. Reich's therapy used touch and often involved patients getting naked - which caused him to be disregarded by other psychoanalysts. He also conducted experiments on single-celled organisms to determine the origins of life and wrote many books. Much of his work was surrounded by controversy.
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