Wilhelm Reich in an autobiographical perspective

approaches and ruptures with classical psychoanalysis

Abstract

This bibliographic study consists of three sections. In the first one, two autobiographical narratives by the psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich stand out: “Passion of youth” and “The function of orgasm”. In the second, the converging topics between Reich and Freud are analyzed, which are the constructs of the first psychoanalytic phase (1894-1920), and in the third, the divergent topics between these authors are discussed, which are the constructs of the second psychoanalytic phase (1920-1939). Therefore, the objective is to highlight Reich's approximations and ruptures with classical psychoanalysis. The results indicate that Reich's child and adolescent sexual experiences influenced his study interests as a young medical student, leading him to approach and, at the same time, to move away from psychoanalysis. It is noteworthy that, from the comparative analysis of the two Reichian works, it can be concluded that, in the first, he outlines the basic constructs that are detailed in the second. In this, he explains the theoretical differences between him and Freud. Mainly, the persistent Reichian critique of the Freudian construct of the death drive that led him to elaborate the orgasm theory that definitively distanced him from psychoanalysis. It is shown that between 1920-1934, when he was linked to the IPA and with Freud's consent, Reich developed the Theories of Sexual Economy, Orgasm and Character Analysis as a critical reinterpretation of the death drive that he did not accept.