REICH, Wilhelm

Wilhelm Reich was an Austrian-American psychoanalyst and physician who began his career as a student and colleague of Sigmund Freud before developing increasingly unconventional theories about sexuality, psychology, and what he claimed was a fundamental life energy called "orgone." His work evolved from legitimate psychoanalytic research into pseudoscientific theories that brought him into conflict with medical authorities.

Reich's early contributions to psychoanalysis included important work on character analysis and the relationship between psychological and physical tension. However, his theories became increasingly radical as he developed the concept of orgone energy, which he claimed was a cosmic life force that could be concentrated and manipulated using specially constructed devices called orgone accumulators.

The orgone accumulator was a box-like device constructed with alternating layers of organic and metallic materials that Reich claimed could concentrate orgone energy for therapeutic purposes. He promoted these devices as treatments for various ailments, including cancer, and established the Orgone Energy Observatory in Maine to continue his research and manufacture the accumulators.

Reich's medical claims attracted the attention of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which investigated his work and concluded that orgone energy did not exist and that the accumulators were fraudulent medical devices. In 1954, the FDA obtained a federal injunction prohibiting Reich from shipping the devices across state lines or promoting their medical benefits.

Reich violated the injunction by continuing to ship accumulators and was charged with contempt of court. He was convicted in 1956 and sentenced to two years in federal prison, where he died of heart failure on November 3, 1957. The FDA subsequently destroyed Reich's accumulators and burned many of his published works, making him a martyr figure for some alternative health advocates while his theories remain rejected by mainstream science.