The patients of Reich, and all those other neurotic humans, who are not his patients, but go about their business as longas theyare capable of it, are messes of splinteredpersonalities, repressed emotionsand fragmented bodies, which instead ofbeingan open, interconnected system of energy circulation, are divided into autonomous segments, which are almost completely out of touch with each other.
These segments canbe divided into broad areas,
which to apoint coincide with the Eastern chakra system: Eye. Jaw, Throat.
Heart. Waist. Belly. and Pelvic segments. The metaphor suggestedbyReich of
a blocked humanorganism, is that of a snake, which has its spine damaged in several
places. It is no longer able to move in one sensual wave - it is rather a collection of
pathological segments, a frozen, tightened organism, reflectinga
frozen, tightened psyche, bothincapable of relaxation, of relief from
the permanent tension. Reich stresses what he calls the "functional identity"
of muscle tension and repressed emotion/thoughts.
Whena child
represses an emotion, it a) tenses some of itsmuscles (for instance the jaw, throat and cheeks to stop tears), andb) restricts its breath,
because with less oxygen there is less life energy and the biological impulses are easier to
control. Whenthroughmassage and breathing exercise a chronic muscle tension isdissolved
-the original emotions which it served to repressflood back in. But this time into
the awareness of anadult, who, with proper assistance, can manage them, unlike
the child who could not and had torepress them. The collection
of mechanisms whichthe young human is forced to develop to control its emotions and thoughts
is called byReich "character armoring", andthe corresponding muscle tensions - "musclearmoring".
When by therapy the "armor" is dissolved, the patient is finallyable
to relax, and become "orgastically potent" whereas beforehe orshe was "orgasticallyimpotent".
Orgastic potency2is the precondition necessary for a "natural sexuality" - it is the
ability to surrenderduring the sexual act, to not need conscious control of the
situationon one hand, andonthe other to feel the whole body react to the sensation
-to not have the flow of sensations interruptedordisruptedbyorganic
and psychic dysfunctions - the capability of the whole body to feel the waves of
sensations, not only the tiny portions of the body close to the genitals.
Orgastic impotence
is the condition of the fragmented neurotic human, whose body is blocked in various places, whose
bioelectrical currents do not flow freely, and which therefore can not be discharged with
accordance to the original biological structure of the human, thuscuttingthe human off from
any realistic possibility of relaxation, of relief from tension.
This neurotic humannot onlyhas.
The earliest published description of the concept byReich appears to be in 1925, in a case study entitled
'Psychogenic Tic as a Masturbation Equivalent'. it's personality split into many parts
from which the tiny 'Me' is alienated, but the bodyitself consists of parts which are alienated from the 'Me'
as well.