Saturday, 5 October 2013

Renata Reich Moise, CNM. "Birth As a Transformative Experience."

Biography and Abstract, About, All Presentations

There are some essential questions that Moise wants to understand about a soon to be mother:

1. Is the woman in a loving relationship?
2. What is her age and what are her plans for next stage of her life?
3. Is she afraid/hopeful/anxious?
4. Does she have a history of abuse?
5. What is her partner’s history of birth trauma?
6. What is the social setting for the birth? In the US there is little to no time off from work given to women, so often a mother has to go right back to work or loose her job as a result of having the baby.

There is a lot of stress involved in this birth process, and the mother often bears the burden alone. Is it a planned pregnancy? What is the situation of the mother’s living situation? Will the father be involved in the birth? Will the father be involved in the rearing of the child?

In general, Moise observes that the less armored a woman is the more she feels the stress of the birth process, even though it may result in a rather joyful event. However, the more armored a mother is the less likely she will be to feel any joy in the process at all. For example, with more armoring, the mother is more likely to feel the babies kick as painful, whereas the less armored mother will react to the kick with delight and seeing the child as playing in her. For the midwife, there may be few visits with the mother, but they are essential for building up to the first touch the midwife has during childbirth.

Every woman’s situation is part of the equation going into the experience of transformation. The midwife has to be there all the time as the birthing begins. The midwife has to be open and supportive and she needs to be careful in her energetic approach. For example, some women respond well to a hug, but some women don’t want this interaction at all.

Moise wants every woman to leave her office feeling happy, but this can be very hard if the woman is overweight (a common problem in Maine), is eating bad food (linked to the preceding situation), perhaps smoking or drinking, and numerous other things that can make a mother loose her self-esteem.

There are rituals that Moise has discovered that can lead to a better connection with a mother. They may be small things or habits that reaffirm the mother and thus create a better supportive relationship for the midwife.

She showed a series of pictures of a birth for an older woman who was without a partner, but did have family around her for support – the birth of Austin. There were some good slides of this experience, and it was especially moving to see the first experience of the newborn baby resting on the mother’s chest, listening to the heartbeat that had been part of the child’s environment for months. Finally opening the eyes to observe this new world that was beginning for the child.

There was a question directed to her at the end of the presentation. What was the role of the father in the birth process? In her practice, she is mostly involved with the mother. The father’s role is important, and she has had a father get into the tub with the mother during delivery (a water birth is used by Moise). It is important that the loving role of the father be supportive for the mother. It is the mother who is the primary provider for the child, and as such, she is the primary focus of Moise’s work.

 

Phillip Bennett, PhD. "The Orgonomic Infant Research Center and Its Historical Context."

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Freud's early interest in little Hans resulted in only one article on children being published by him, but it did set the stage for a closer look at children's early development. That children could have sexual lives was certainly a radical idea in 1909 when the article was published.

In 1949 Dr. Reich began the Orgonomic Infant Research Center (OIRC) while he was still living in the New York City area. It failed within one year. There was no physical location for the center at the time – meetings were held in Reich's home in New Rochelle. In 1948 Neil was in the US and had had a series of meetings with Reich. Neil considered a move to Maine and he might have given the center some direction. But Neil had been labeled a "commie" at the time in England, so a visa would have been impossible to obtain. The OIRC was focused on what a 'healthy' child was like, not a focus on neurotic kids and how to cure them.

The years 1948 to 1951 were very intense years for orgonomy:

• The Geiger-Mueller reactions
• The Oranur experiments
• The observatory constructed in Maine
• The INS investigation into Reich
• The continuing FDA investigation

So why did Reich start another project? Bennett suggests it was the children: Reich's son was born in 1944, as was a niece of Steig's. Several orgonomists working with Reich had children born in 1945: Wright, Wolf, Singer, Baker, and others. So there were eight or nine young children in Reich's immediate environment. This was a different attitude of Reich than he displayed in the 1930's with his first child. Eva Reich was sent off to a communist camp for children and was miserable there.

By the 1940's he recognized the essential need and importance of the mother/child relationship. So by 1949 the topic of child rearing was part of every orgonomist's conversation. In early December he developed a plan for creating a program for child raising and for the support of mothers. He met with 30 or 40 professionals involved in childbirth and raising young children in the middle of December. He was pleased with this meeting and encouraged by this new direction.

There was a fatal flaw in the design of this Center. From the beginning, Reich divided the parents involved in the OIRC into two groups based on the perceived health of the parents. This was a subjective pre-screening, but more importantly, it did not take long for the parents to realize that their health had been pre-judged. Thus group A felt superior, while Group B felt maligned. It was a cause of friction, and Bennett suggests that it may very well be the Center fell apart so rapidly.

Reich had some important points around which this Center was organized:

• It is important that a healthy sex life continues while the woman is pregnant.
• An orgonomist should be part of the child's support group.
• Prevention of armoring in the first five or six years of the child's life is important. Reich called this orgonomic first aid.
• Parents should study and record their child's development up until puberty.

There were ideas learned from the OIRC that can be summarized:

• The oral orgasm of the child is a release of energy essential to the child
• There is a first puberty, occurring at age 3 to 6, when genital play begins
• In infants, armoring can be easily addressed.
• Respiratory blockage is usually the cause of the first layer of armoring
• Contact with the mother was essential for growth of the child

However, the OIRC collapsed quickly. By the sixth meeting, there had been established a pattern of analyzing children which upset many professionals in the group. Reich had begun the pattern by having his son stand in front of the group in his undershorts and the pointing out layers of armoring that he could observe in the child. Reich expected other parents to do the same. The professionals attacked him for this method and that greatly depressed him. He felt that if this could not work with these people, how could it work with anyone.

Reich said that there was a fear of, and a hatred for, freedom and life exhibited by this rebellion of members of the group. The chains are broken, but the person cannot be free, he wrote.

In the end, Dr. Reich moved to Maine and the OIRC quickly collapsed in New York.

 

Tina Lindemann, MD. "The Emotional Plague Today."

Biography and Abstract, Website, All Presentations

Lindemann listed the following as properties of the emotional plague (EP):

• It is biological in origin.  It is a physical phenomenon manifesting in ill will.
• Aggressiveness is a signaling characteristic.
• This condition is often combined with a feeling of serving a good purpose.
• It is directed against the natural expression of life. Expressed as hatred toward life.

Ignorance of a person (or a group) is often a part of the aggressive response. For example, in not making contact with a person reinforces the feeling of loneliness in the armored person that can result in a pushing away of the contact or an urge to destroy the object that is outside of the armored person's life.

In all cases, it is aggressiveness that is the key to moving ill will into actions.

Dr. Reich was constantly confronted by the EP. Rational talk does not work when dealing with the EP. For Reich, this confrontation resulted in his drawing back from the aggression. He built his little secure island of work and love at Orgonon in Maine.

In general, one wants to expand out into the world. But when one confronts these armored personalities and their associated EP, withdrawal is a nature reaction.  But this leads to a fear of what has been lost as a result of this withdrawal.

While armoring is annoying, it is important for survival in this world. Although one can rip out the armoring in intense therapy (and in life), one still needs trustful relationships and healthy contacts to be able to open up in this world. Honesty is necessary in order to open up without being crushed by the world. It is like the lobster in the ocean. It needs its shell to protect itself, yet it also needs to shed it shell on occasion so that it can grow. It is very vulnerable in this period of not having a hard shell to protect it, so it retreats and hides while the new shell hardens.

Armoring in a person does limit her space and make it small. Until ready to give up the armoring, no growth can occur. In society, it is even more difficult to achieve growth. Fighting back, attacking, or ignoring only increases the strength and aggravates the armoring. As an example, Lindemann shared an event that recently happened to her. She was interviewed by a journalist about the new movie which we viewed last night. The journalist asked her about how orgonomic therapy worked, so Lindemann gave a session to the journalist in December. It seemed to be a positive session. Three weeks later the article about the movie came out and it was full of invective and bitterness about Reich. How did this come about she asked herself? At first she was angry and took the negative review of the movie personally, especially since the review used inaccurate facts.

But Lindemann chose to not fight back. Unbelievably, the journalist called her asking for feedback about the review that had been published. She meet with him and found herself meeting with a small little ashamed boy hiding in a mask of a proud journalist. There were two personalities struggling in this person. The boy was sorry, claiming "The chief made me do it." But the journalist personality thought that the article was OK so he was ready to move on and forget about it.

Lindemann reflected that given another chance to be interviewed she would do it all again. But she has learned that perhaps she needs to be more cautious in talking to the press in the future, even to the point of requesting to see the article prior to publication before she gives her permission for publication. In summary, although this experience is painful for her to remember, she has grown from it and will be better equipped for future similar experiences.

 

Roberto Maglione, MSc. "Methods and Procedures in Biophysical Orgonomy."

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There is abundant literature published on the methods of use of orgone blankets, the accumulator, and DOR busters.  Maglioni's book, Method and Procedures in Biophysical Orgonometry is a good place to start if one wants a review of the literature.

There have been repeatable and reproducible studies done on five types of measurement of orgone energy:

1. Temperature measurements
2. Electroscopic discharge
3. Geiger Mueller counts
4. Hygrometer measurements
5. Gravimeter measurements

Regarding this last measurement, the instruments available in Reich's time were not as sensitive as those available to researchers today. It seems clear that there is a measurable change in gravity in interactions involving systems of high orgonomic potential. One needs to read Chapter 6 in Maglioni's reference book to evaluate these studies.

He then gave a brief overview of research in the five measurement types mentioned above. My apologies for these incomplete notes that follow. The slides were in Italian, and so it was difficult to juggle the translation with what was presented on screen. However, it appears that most of the material he presented is covered in greater detail in his book, which also includes complete references to the work of every researcher mentioned in the talk.

Thermal Orgonometry
Maglioni reviewed Reich's temperature work on the difference in temperature between the inside and outside of an accumulator (To-T). This work was recorded by Reich in The Cancer Biopathy. Reich talks a great deal about the weather dependency of this measurement. Blasband in The Journal of Orgonomy repeats these measurements in the 1970's. Konia likewise published his correlation of these measurements in the '70's, using a 24 fold accumulator (which used plastic as the organic material). Konia obtained consistent differences of +0.30 ˚C and +0.70 ˚C. DeMeo in 2008 reproduced this temperature result with the most accurate and scientifically significant experiments to date. His work showed a difference of +0.30 ˚C and +0.80 ˚C, with the smaller temperature differences associated with cloudy or rainy days in his Oregon laboratory. Ritter in England in the 1950's took a different approach, measuring the increase in core body temperature in a person after using an accumulator for a 40-minute session. He reported an increase in body temperature of +0.27 ˚C. Recently (2006) Correa & Correa confirmed this temperature increase in work done in Toronto. However, Muschenich at Marburg University in Germany did the most rigorous testing, in a double-blind study of subjects using the accumulator for 30 minutes. Again, a temperature difference was observed.

Electroscopic Orgonometry
Reich's original work on electroscopic discharge in an accumulator was not extensive. Baker (publishing as Rosenblum) measured the deflection angle of the electroscope leaves in his measurements, introducing a different set of parameters, but still arriving at the same results as Reich. Konia studied the DOR buster and its effects on electroscopic discharge. DeMeo showed the same change in discharge rate in a paper published online here. Ferrari and Maglioni have been performing ongoing experiments using tube capacitors made of alternating metallic and non-metallic materials.

Orgonomic Radioactivity
In 1947 Reich found that orgone energy concentrations could also be detected by a Geiger-Muller (GM) counter. Maglioni has done some current research in this area, published in his book mentioned above. Baker compared electroscopic discharge and GM measurements in 1977. DeMeo also provides some interesting insights in his paper mentioned above.

Orgonomic Hygrometry
This measurement of orgone demonstrates the mutual attraction between orgone energy and water. Konia published work 20 years ago showing a relationship between relative air humidity and an accumulator. He compared this differences in humidity in dry and rainy weather.

Gravitational Orgonometry
Lampitelli and Francis in Luxembourg showed a direct relationship between local gravity changes and fluctuations in local precipitation. This is an anomaly that cannot be explained by traditional mechanistic science, but it does have a very simple explanation in orgonomic physics, based on the basis that the flow of orgone is from a smaller to larger system. More details are in Maglioni's book, as well as his correlation between gravity changes and phases of the moon.

 

Conny Huthsteiner, MD. "Moving Towards Life Energy: Changing Concepts of Energy Since 1955."

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Dr. Reich allowed, indeed, required the observer to be part of the scientific process in agreement with Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. In looking at recent trends in research in the biological sciences, one sees an attempt to integrate biology into the "hard"; sciences. DARPA and MIT are two separate entities that exemplify this movement. But it is in this way that Orgonomy is ahead of the curve, since Reich was the first scientist to do a systematic measurement of processes occurring in the life sciences.

The basic principles of orgonomic concepts of energy are:

• Pulsation
• Swelling-charge-discharge-tumescence
• Attraction to higher orgonomic charges
• Pre-atomic (no mass)
• Similar to, yet different than, other energies
• Attracted to water
• Metal repels
• Increased levels in living versus non-living material
• Measurable
• Affects all living things
• Fills all space (but without mass)

The developments in light therapy in traditional medicine is a cousin to orgonomic research. Of interest here is some of the work of NASA on light's effects on plant growth in space. Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski's cancer work in Texas using antineoplastons appears to be very similar to Reich's use of bions in mice. Like Reich, Burzynski has been harassed by traditional medical gatekeepers.

Reich's galvanic skin measurements in the 1930's were the first attempt by medicine to measure the pleasure response by measuring the change in electric potential of the skin. This is one area of Reich's discoveries that has been further developed (although without attribution) by modern science. In The Bioelectric Body, which is a study of electromagnetism and the foundation of life, the author Robert Becker does briefly mention Reich.

Piezoelectric impulses and change in bone density is another use of electricity in healing. Collagen is a generator of these small electric impulses, but traditional science does not know why. Likewise early semi-conductor research in the 1960's used silicon and carbon mixtures, similar to Reich's early bion research done with sand and quartz. Becker's bone studies show that bone can be seen as a type of LED which leads to an overlap of bion, piezoelectric, and semi-conductor research. Huchsteiner explained that insulators are now being developed that hold a charge, leading to the possibility of plastic-based transistor development.

Huthsteiner continued on in a rather wide-ranging ramble across modern science, and I apologize for not having better notes on her presentation. In essence, the principle stated above that orgone energy is similar to, but different than, other energies leaves a large opening for interpretation of energy studies where one may at times be pleasantly surprised at the connections betweens Reich's work and modern studies.

 

Armando Vecchietti, MBioSci "Cancerous Process and Early Cancer Diagnosis: Use of the Orgone Accumulator of Reich."

Biography and Abstract, Article, YouTube, Website, All Presentations

Current oncological research is focused on the cancer cell as the cause of the disease of cancer, but this is a mechanistic approach to understanding this sickness.

Certainly accelerated division of cells can give rise to a tumor mass. But what is the cause of this? A cancer cell is a weak cell, so it is strange that this cell can destroy an organism. Before this cancer cell has grown into a tumor there must be pathological growth of the cells. So the cancer cells are symptoms of the disease, not the cause. Cancer affects the whole body.

Vecchietti displayed a chart that outlines the progress of a diseased cell as it grows in the person’s body:

Vecchietti then showed a video of pre-cancer cells dozens of years before a cancer mass appeared. Pictures of the cells can be seen on his web site, in English and Italian.

Club shaped cells appear as an end product of the cell disruption. This club shape is foreign to the human body. They appear at the end of the second step in the first phase and signals the beginning of the third step, the formation of the tumor mass.

Vecchietti emphasized that it is critical to realize that the 1st Phase of this progression is not lethal. The patient can live many years with these cells in his body. Danger for the patient occurs after the creation of the tumor mass and the cancer cells begin to die in large quantities and infect the patient’s blood with purification byproducts. These byproducts then create an environment that promotes the formation of more T-bacilli within the patient. This rising number of T-bacilli create a toxic environment for the body which if unchecked, leads to the death of the patient.

Many examples of the T-bacilli observed in ill patients were shown by Vecchietti . All were at 400X magnification in a dark field, conditions of observation similar to that of observing bions.

Thus, Dr. Reich gave us the possibility for early detection of cancer. Reich also detailed the progression on a cellular level of the deterioration of healthy, round, fat cells to cells of diminished size, with spikes in their membranes. He also defined a distribution pattern for the degeneration of a healthy cell noting that a healthy body can overcome all the cellular degeneration in the 1st Phase. It is not until the cells move into the 2nd Phase that a condition approaches being terminal. Total cellular breakdown appears by the second step of the 2nd Phase.

As the speaker was running out of time for his presentation, he referred us to his web site for a discussion on the use of accumulators in the treatment of cancer. It is an excellent web site, full of good images that illustrate his research.

 

Panel Discussion With All the Presenters

Question: Where is the proper placement of an accumulator.

Answer: In the countryside would be best, far from electric power lines, cell phone towers, sources of pollution, high EMF sources. Vecchietti said the accumulator needs to be placed where there is a good exchange of air. As he brilliantly put it: “Place the accumulator where one would place a plant.” Succinctly put.

Question: What is the proper care for an accumulator?

Answers: Old accumulators in New York City had pipes out of them leading to buckets of water in order to clean out the energy inside. This is not used anymore in modern accumulators. Moise stated that her family kept their accumulator in the barn outside the house. Nowadays, she airs her orgone blanket outdoors for 24 hours in order to clean it. Lindemann stated that in an urban environment it is good to clean the walls of the accumulator with a damp cloth on a regular basis. The placement of the accumulator does not need energy of the sun to be effective. Huchsteiner stated that she like to place a duvet around her orgone blanket to keep it clean.

Question: Regarding cellular progression toward cancer, can cells go backwards, meaning reverse the progress.

Answer: Vecchietti said “Yes”.

Question: Which is better, the accumulator or the blanket?

Answer: From everyone on the panel, both are useful and valuable. Vecchietti added that his clinical use depends on the case being treated and it also depends on the season. Moise added that everyone should simply make their own blanket, since they are so easy to make.

Question: Does yoga have good effects on the ocular segment?

Answer: Yes it does. Huchsteiner added that singing also is very effective in working on the ocular segment.

 

Jorgos Kavouras, MD. "The Use of Physical Orgone Therapy (ORAC and DORbuster) as Powerful Medical Devices."

Biography and Abstract, About, Website, All Presentations

A note of caution for Reichian therapists: breathing exercises with cancer patients, if too intense, can be dangerous for the therapist herself. The patient exhales a lot of DOR and the therapist can then absorb the DOR. This is an experience he has had in his personal life.

Can physical disorders be cured by a psychiatric orgonomist? Kavouras suggested that this was possible at a conference in Princeton New Jersey, USA, and it “caused a stir.” Why not? The process of cancer takes a long time to manifest itself. The immune system needs to be damaged. So psychiatric work can be helpful.

He gave an example from his own clinic. He had a patient with cancer who still had a strong immune system. From her history, Kavouras saw that there was a strong conflict focused on the male/female relationship. So she had to resolve this conflict within herself before health could be achieved. Her immune system could not act on her cancer tumor because of the psychological stasis she displayed.

Kavouras then shared several videos. A female, age 21, was diagnosed with schizophrenia. She had received large doses of chemicals that had resulted in a coma. She came out of the coma crippled and unable to walk. He used a DOR buster on both sides of her brain. She can now walk.

A male, age 40, was involved in a motorcycle accident. He had a broken ankle with pain and swelling that kept him from walking. Seventeen applications of DOR buster resulted in elimination of the pain and full movement of the ankle.

A female, age 50, was a cancer patient. She had received chemotherapy and radiation treatments. She used an accumulator for three to four weeks in combination with homeopathy. The DOR buster was used as needed for her pain.

There were some questions from the audience. “What about the renal failure that came from the tumor mass being broken up?” Kavouras replied that he had not experienced this in his practice.

Another question: “What is the role of traditional cancer treatment when one is using Reichian treatments?” Kavouras pointed out that one has to accept therapy that has promised some help for the patient, unless of course the patient specifically does not wish the treatment. However, chemotherapy is simply a case of using poison in the body, so a Reichian therapist has to gently suggest to the patient when it might be time to stop the traditional treatment.

“Can I use this therapy with a pregnant woman?” Kavouras: No problem, though one has to be careful with DOR and the baby.

“Do you need a consent form to use these therapies in Germany?” Kavouras: Yes, an informed consent form is signed.

“Is it dangerous to stop chemotherapy suddenly?” Kavouras: It depends on the case, as the whole history of the patient needs to be examined.

 

James DeMeo, PhD. "Laboratory Evaluations and Proof of Reich's Orgone Energy"

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DeMeo started his presentation with a little ramble around various books he has written. Of note, his latest work In Defense of Wilhelm Reich presents some well researched documentation that the driving force behind the defamatory slander of Reich can be traced back to agents, active and supportive, of the communist international, who had focused on Reich as an enemy because of his early social work in Germany.

DeMeo showed some slides from bionous cells from deep sea vents, called “extremophile cells.” He noted their similarity to the bions Reich first observed. DeMeo continued his talk with a slide tour of his research laboratory in Oregon. His metal lined room with its several accumulators is a very good replica of Reich’s room in the student laboratory in Orgonon, Maine, USA. He then showed some results of his sprout growth experiments. Significant increase in sprout length resulted from placing the seeds and sprouts in an accumulator when compared to sprouts grown under identical conditions not using an accumulator.

DeMeo talked about his G-M measurements in Oregon. Changes in measurement of the background level were from 5 cpm outside on a sunny day, to 3-4 thousand cpm inside the accumulator at the same time. He then correlated this remarkable gain in activity to sunspot activity.

Also of note is that ultraviolet absorption peaks at 240 nm in water that has been charged in an accumulator. DeMeo observed that the intense blue color of Crater Lake in Oregon has also been tested to peak around 240 nm, but fluorescent spectroscopy shows that the peak in fluorescence is in the 400-490 nm, which is in the range of visible blue light. DeMeo talks about this in more detail in this online paper.

 

Peter Robbins, BSA. "Wilhelm Reich and UFO's – Part 2."

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Dr. Reich proceeded in his UFO research knowing the dangers inherent in taking such unpopular views. Kehoe’s book, The Flying Saucers Are Real, was very important to Reich. At around this time, a board was formed within the United States that was headed by Admiral Hillenkoetter.

Contact With Space talks of the appearance of UFOs. This description of the shape of these objects is very similar to documents recently declassified by the US military. Also recently declassified are reports from the State Department in Iran sent to the Department of Defense that used the same description of UFOs. Robbins showed some pictures from Strategic Air Command reports of the 1970’s that were similar in design. Descriptions of the vehicle also are similar in that no exhaust trail is mentioned, and often there is a clearing of clouds around the sightings. As Reich noted in his observations, there is a pulsating effect in the lights emitted by the UFOs.

Robbins then spent a good deal of time talking about the extensive list of those who have observed UFOs. Images from Jutland, reports of Japanese pilots, cockpit crew of a Delta flight, official report from the Brazilian government, and other military and civilian reports are just a part of the list. Many reports backed up with good photographs.

Reich noted a blue color surrounding the UFOs, and Kehoe was the first to mention this after Reich. Other military observers have also seen this blue color. Reich also made note of a change in background radiation: from 600 cpm to 8000 cpm after a sighting.

Reich said that we often evade the obvious if the truth is too painful to recognize. He described himself and his views as being seen from the big picture as if one is flying a plane over new territory. Thus, details are often left out of the description, as is necessary.

 

Hugh Brenner, FPNP. "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The Use and Misuse of Psychiatric Orgone Therapy in the Pediatric Population."

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Prevention of armoring in individuals became Dr. Reich’s goal, especially how parents the building up of armor in children. “Hatred of the living” was what Reich called the armoring. Although the children’s clinic started by Reich in New York failed, Baker in northern New Jersey began an offshoot of that effort. Dr. Albert Duvall was Brenner’s therapist at that center. It was Brenner’s first exposure to self-regulation, which eventually led to Brenner becoming an orgonomic therapist.

Ten years ago Brenner’s brother told him that Duvall had molested him as a child. Brenner investigated this and found other patients who had been molested. Brenner presented his findings to the American College of Orgonomy. Felicia Saxe was a physical therapist involved in the New Jersey clinic who was kicked out by Dr. Reich himself. However, Reich never took any action against Duvall. The autobiography of Lorna Luft, Judy Garland’s daughter, talks about Duvall in Me and My Shadows.

Why didn’t Reich see this miscarriage of orgonomic therapy? Brenner offered that Reich was still new to living in the United States when Baker brought Duvall into Reich’s circle. Reich’s belief in work democracy perhaps made it more difficult for him to see this behavior of an associate. Duvall himself in a rather cynical statement said that Reich often displayed disingenuousness and naivety. As Baker said in his study of Reich, “He was easily fooled by people.”

Brenner continued that perhaps Reich allowed therapist he trained to enter too quickly into professional relationships, especially with children. Clinicians under Reich did not have a lot of training. However, these charges against Duvall (and perhaps two others) are not minor transgressions. Reich perhaps attracted manipulators. These people are all dead now, but there is still a need to look into the process of training therapists, especially those working with children.

Brenner then discussed how therapy could act on a patient. There are two ways:

Outside -> in. The process of character analysis can be harsh. In general, a rougher therapy but result in quicker results. It requires a less skilled therapist, but can remove armor too fast. The patient can shut down or regress as a result.

Inside -> out. This requires that the therapist build up that which is healthy in the patient, so that this building up can push out the armor in the patient. It is more supportive of the patient, is gentler and more sensitive to patient needs.

In real practice therapy is a combination of the two approaches. Weak structure needs building up. As a medical doctor, Reich wrote about the outside -> in process. However, in practice he was often gentle in dealing with his patients, thus using an inside -> out approach. Brenner recounted a conversation he had with his parents. Reich worked on his father and loosened up his armor by using words, eye contact, and talk. His father had tears in his eyes as a result of this gentle approach.  

Presentation of armoring in children is similar to that of adults. Primary energy is focused in the family system. Communication is very important in the family. Love is the subject of talk in the family and the force behind family conversation. Infants lose armoring very quickly.

In children, play therapy is the key to success. The therapist has to mobilize and engage the eyes of the child. Play with the child. The jaw needs to be loosened. Pretend one is a dog pulling on a rag or bone with a person. Making animal noises also open the throat. Gentle massage or gentle shiatsu can also be effective. Teenagers need lots of talk in therapy. Don’t do deep work as they have a lot going on hormonally in their body. Brenner himself will not accept a clinical relationship with a child unless the parents are already in therapy with him.

Children need to be protected from abuses. Kids can be more reactive than adults, they are like a pendulum in their swings in emotional reactions. In the Institute for Orgonomic Science they try hard to ferret out child abuse. The child needs to be able to trust the parent so that the child feels free to talk and share with the parent. The child has to know that the parent trusts them and that their conversation will be given respect.

 

Stephen Simonian, MD. "Psychiatry Without Reich = Physics Without Einstein."

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Taking Wilhelm Reich out of psychiatry is like taking the periodic table out of Chemistry. Reich was responsible for the unity of the psyche and soma in his principles of Orgonomy. The source energy for the psyche is pulsating throughout the body. Psychic illness is not “in your head” but is anchored in your body. Traditional medicine cannot really treat these psychosomatic ills. Only Orgonomy offers a treatment path because it analyses the entire body of the patient.

The orgasm theory is important, but what does it do? The theory of armoring is parallel with orgastic theory. Reich had a case referred to him by Freud. Sexual impotence was the diagnosis. The patient was treated five times a week for three years. Reich found the primal source of this impotence came from the patient at age two watching his mother give birth. But the discovery of this primal trauma did not cure the patient, contrary to Freudian doctrine. So Reich was ready to terminate the relationship.

This news the patient accepted calmly. Reich saw there that the real problem was this passiveness – not the patient’s sexual impotence. Character analysis thus arose from this insight, and later on Reich’s muscular work on armoring further refined the technique. The patient complained about the emptiness he felt. Reich pointed out the patient’s empty character. This created anger in the patient as his whole personality resisted this understanding. This is armoring at work.

For Reich, it is not so much what words are said, but how they are said. So the orgonomist has to watch the patient as well as to listen to him. There is a primal conflict in all people as their drives come in conflict with the world. As a result of this conflict, there is a split in the energy that fuels these drives of the individual, giving rise to neurosis in the patient. This energetic analysis of the source of neurotic energy is unique to Orgonomy.

Before one gets to the living, healthy core that exists in an individual, we have to get through the hate, fear, sadness, and terror of the armor that surround the core. The emotional plague that is a result of this energy in conflict with oneself exists for the individual as well as for the larger society. It is a conflict between the healthy and the sick. In Reich Speaks of Freud Reich states that there cannot be a resolution to this conflict if children are not allowed to grow up free of the emotional plague.

 

Peter Jones, OB. "The Bions."

Biography and Abstract, Website, Blog, YouTube, All Presentations

Jones started his presentation with a little rant against modern science, pointing out their failures that are a result of an overly mechanistic thinking and an analysis based on the reduction of complex systems. He then continued on to a tour of microscopes necessary for good Reichian research. Basically put, one needs a microscope capable of 400X magnification with dark field capacity. These microscopes are not cheap, but occasionally good deals can be found on perfectly usable second hand items.

Then Jones talked about bions. He gets some sand and grinds it with a mortar and pestle. He then dissolves this powder in water and boils it. He sterilizes a slide and then takes some of the ground sand and places it on a spatula. Placing the spatula into a flame, he heats the sand until the spatula reaches incandescence. He then mixes this powder with the sterilized water and places a drop of the mixture on a slide.

One can get bions forming almost immediately. One can see little bits of sand not completely ground up, but between them see the bions moving about. At 100X magnification they can barely be observed, but at 400x one can really see the bions dancing around, spinning about, and starting to develop the primary stages of clustering.

Volcanic rock works even better than sand as a starting media. In fact, farmers often add volcanic rock to soil. Perhaps the reason for this is that this rock increases the bions in the soil and makes the soil more fertile by doing that.

Jones has also done this same process using stainless steel as described by Dr. Reich on page 25 in The Cancer Biopathy. The results were the same as using the sand or volcanic rocks. He displayed numerous slides and videos showing the formation of these bions and their motility upon formation. He addresses this topic in his recent book, Artificers of Fraud: The Origin of Life and Scientific Deception, which was on sale at the conference. It is a good read.

 

 

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