Wilhelm Reich: podcast appearances and interviews

Wilhelm Reich was an Austrian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, born on March 24, 1897. As a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud, he authored several influential books including The Impulsive Character, The Function of the Orgasm, Character Analysis, and The Mass Psychology of Fascism. His work significantly contributed to the development of ideas concerning character and personality expression through the body, influencing various therapeutic approaches such as body psychotherapy, Gestalt therapy, bioenergetic analysis, and primal therapy. Reich's theories also extended into social and political realms; he is credited with coining the phrase 'the sexual revolution' and is recognized by some historians as a midwife to its emergence. After graduating in medicine from the University of Vienna in 1922, Reich served as deputy director of Freud's outpatient clinic in Vienna and actively engaged in efforts to reconcile psychoanalysis with Marxism during the 1930s. He established some of the first sexual advisory clinics and sought to address neurosis through prevention. Reich relocated to Oslo in 1934 and later moved to New York in 1939, where he took a position at the New School for Social Research. During his career, he developed the concept of orgone energy, a form of life energy, and built orgone accumulators;devices he claimed could treat cancer. His claims led to legal actions and court orders, and in 1956 he was imprisoned for contempt of court. Reich died in prison of heart failure on November 3, 1957.