Reich developed his orgasm theory between 1921 and 1924 and it formed the basis for much of his later work, including the theory of character analysis. The starting point of Reich's orgasm theory was his clinical observation of genital disturbance in all neurotics, which he presented in November 1923, in the paper "Über Genitalität vom Standpunkt der psychoanalytischen Prognose und Therapie" ("Genitality from the viewpoint of psycho-analytic prognosis and therapy"). That presentation was met with a chilling silence, much hostility, and was partially discredited because Reich could not adequately define normal sexual health. In response, and after a further year of research, Reich introduced the concept "orgastic potency" at the 1924 Psycho-analytic Congress, Salzburg in the paper "Die therapeutische Bedeutung des Genitallibidos" ("Further Remarks on the Therapeutic Significance of Genital Libido").
In addition to his own patients' love lives, Reich had examined through interviews and case records of 200 patients seen at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Polyclinic. Reich was impressed by the depth and frequency of genital disturbances he observed. One example was a patient who had reported having a normal sex life, but on closer interviewing by Reich revealed not experiencing orgasm during intercourse and having thoughts of murdering her partner following the act. Such observations made Reich very suspicious of superficial reports about sexual experience. His analysis of these cases led Reich to three conclusions:
This led Reich to establish criteria for satisfactory sexual intercourse. Based on interviews with people who appeared to have satisfactory sex lives, he described the sex act as being optimally satisfactory only if it follows a specific pattern. Orgastic potency is Reich's term for the ability to have this maximally fulfilling type of sexual experience, which in the Reichian view is limited to those who are free from neuroses and appears to be shared by all people free of neuroses.
Reich distinguished between complete release of accumulated sexual tensions in orgasm, resulting in the restoration of energy equilibrium, and orgastic impotence, in which the release of energy is incomplete. Reich argued that the inability of psychoneurotics to wholly discharge sexual energy caused a damming-up of sexual energy, providing in real-time the physiological 'energy stasis' underlying the neurosis, with the psyche merely providing the historical content of the neurosis, but which could not exist without the accompanying energy stasis.
Reich's precise definition for the phrase "orgastic potency" changed over time as he changed his understanding of the phenomenon. He first described it in detail in his 1927 book Die Funktion Des Orgasmus. In the 1980 English translation of the book, Genitality in the Theory and Therapy of Neuroses, he defined orgastic potency as "the ability to achieve full resolution of existing sexual need-tension".
His last published definition of orgastic potency, which is repeated in his 1960 published Selected Writings, is "the capacity for complete surrender to the involuntary convulsion of the organism and complete discharge of the excitation at the acme of the genital embrace."
Reich related orgastic potency and orgastic impotence to a, respectively, healthy and unhealthy sexual experience for the adult. He described that the healthy experience has specific biological and psychological characteristics; is identical for men and women; is characterised by love and the ability to express it; full, deep, pleasurable breathing is present; deep, delicious current-like sensations run up and down the body shortly before orgasm; and involuntary muscular movements are present before climax.[21] Moreover, Reich defined the healthy sexual experience exclusively in terms of the sexual union between male and female. The difference between the presence and absence of orgastic potency in the sexual encounter, as described by Reich, is summarised by Boadella as follows:
Reich expanded on the concept throughout his career. In his 1942 scientific autobiography The Discovery of Orgone, Vol. 1: The Function of the Orgasm, Reich provided the following summary of his findings regarding orgastic potency: it is an outcome of health, he argued, because full orgastic potency can only come about if a person is psychologically free of neurosis (pleasure anxiety absent), physically free from "body armor" (chronic muscular contraction absent), socially free from compulsive morality and duty as imposed by authoritarian and mechanistic ways of life, and has the natural ability to love. According to one source, Reich held that the vast majority of people do not meet these criteria and thus lack orgastic potency.
In Reichian psychology, the individual lacking orgastic potency is seen to have developed a neurotic psychosomatic "armor" that blocks the experience of pleasure. This is differentiated between the functionally identical "character armor" and "muscular armor". Muscular armor prevents the sexual climax from being experienced throughout the body.[21] For example, forms of armoring are pulling back the pelvis or tightening the thigh and buttock muscles.
Reich used the terms "genital character" and "neurotic character" respectively to distinguish between two ideal character types: one with and one without orgastic potency. The genital character is the non-neurotic character structure, which is free from armor and, therefore, has the capacity of natural sexual and moral self-regulation, and experiences life as a fulfilment and unfolding of his or her natural tendencies and struggle to achieve objectives. The neurotic character operates under a principle of compulsive moral regulation due to chronic energy stasis. The neurotic character's work and life is permeated by struggle to suppress original and even more basic urges or tendencies. The various forms of neurotic character correspond to the equally many ways of suppressing such urges or tendencies that the human being in question considers to be dangerous or is ashamed of.
In 1934, Reich expanded his orgasm theory in the essay "Der Orgasmus als Elektro-physiologische Entladung" ("The Orgasm as an Electrophysiological Discharge"). Through clinical observations in his sex-counseling centers, Reich concluded that conceiving of the orgasm as only mechanical tension and relaxation could not explain why some experience gratification and others do not. Thus, based on the work of Friedrich Kraus and others, Reich proposed that the orgasm is a bio-electric discharge, and is part of what Reich termed the orgasm formula:
mechanical tension > bioelectric charge > bioelectric discharge > mechanical relaxation.
In 1934, Reich published the paper "Der Urgegensatz des Vegetatives Lebens" ("Sexuality and Anxiety: The Basic Antithesis of Vegetative Life"). The paper is a literature study in which Reich explored "the physiology of the autonomic nervous system, the chemistry of anxiety, the electro-physiology of the body fluids and the hydro-mechanics of plasma movements in protozoa". In conclusion, Reich proposed a functional psychosomatic antithesis between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, captured respectively as pleasure or movement "towards the world", and anxiety or movement "away from the world". The corollary is the idea that bioelectric energy displayed an antithetic function: if it flows outward to the skin surface, causing a build-up of charge at the skin, it is experienced as pleasure; in contrast, if it flows inward, away from the skin surface, resulting in a lowering of charge at the skin, then it is experienced as an increase in central tension or anxiety.
When Reich first introduced the orgasm theory at the psychoanalytic congress in Salzburg he was congratulated by Karl Abraham for successfully formulating the economic element of neurosis. However, Reich's presentation of the orgasm theory came exactly when psychoanalysis was moving away from the original Freudian instinct theory based on psychic energy. In his 1926 book Inhibitions, Symptoms, Anxiety Freud completely abandoned his earlier position and wrote: "Anxiety never arises from repressed libido."
Freud was ambivalent in his reception. When Reich presented him the manuscript of Die Funktion des Orgasmus in May 1926, Freud replied, "That thick?" Later that year he wrote to Reich that the book was "valuable, rich in observation and thought", but in May 1928 wrote to Lou Andreas-Salomé: "We have here a Dr. Reich, a worthy but impetuous young man, passionately devoted to his hobby-horse, who now salutes in the genital orgasm the antidote to every neurosis. Perhaps he might learn from your analysis of K. to feel some respect for the complicated nature of the psyche."
Reich was strongly influenced by Freud's distinction between psychoneuroses and actual neuroses, the latter being considered of a physiological origin, and the related libido as the energy of an unconscious sexual instinct. However, Reich emphasised the libido theory exactly when it was being discarded by psychoanalysis. Freud had reasoned that sexual maladaption caused the active damming-up of "sexual stuff" and defined "actual neurosis" as anxiety based on dammed-up libido.[43] However, Freud abandoned his view in the 1920s and postulated the never popularly accepted death instinct to explain the destructive behaviour that was earlier attributed to frustrated libido. Reich's view of the relationship between actual and psychoneuroses has not found its way into psychoanalytic thinking. However, it has the advantage of connecting psychopathology with physiology and, according to Charles Rycroft, this makes Reich the only psychoanalyst to provide any explanation as to why childhood pathogenic experiences (causing neuroses in classical psychoanalysis) do not disappear when neurotics leave their childhood environment.
Two further reactions to Reich's work in the psychoanalytic movement were either completely ignoring it or using the concept as if it was commonly accepted, but without referring to Reich as the source. As a result, the theme orgastic potency survived, but became divorced from the concepts in which Reich embedded it. For example Charles Berg (1892–1957), in his Clinical Psychology - A Case Book of the Neuroses and their Treatment (1948), uses Reich's sex economic theory of anxiety as his own, without attributing it to Reich. Erik Erikson was another psychoanalytic writer who partially adopted Reich's concept without acknowledgement. In his bestselling Childhood and Society, Erikson wrote: "Genitality, then, consists in the unobstructed capacity to develop an orgastic potency so free of pregenital interferences that the genital libido ... is expressed in heterosexual mutuality ... and with a convulsion-like discharge of tension from the whole body."
The two colleagues of Reich who build most on Reich's orgasm theory and orgastic potency are Danish psychiatrist Tage Philipson (1907–1961) and Alexander Lowen (1910–2008). They emphasised the importance of human relationship in orgastic functions.
Theodore Peter Wolfe (Theodor Peter Wolfensberger) (1902–1954), an American pioneer in psychosomatic medicine and later colleague of Reich, thought that anxiety was the cause of both neuroses and psychosomatic distortions. When reading Reich's Der Funktion des Orgasmus he found in it what he called the key to understanding the dynamics of this relationship.
In a review of Reich's sexual theories Elsworth Fredrick Baker (1903–1985), a psychiatrist and colleague of Reich, wrote that in particular Reich's sexual theories were commonly misinterpreted and misunderstood. While Reich was portrayed as advocating "a wild frantic promiscuity" to seek "mystical, ecstatic orgasm" that could cure all neuroses and physical ills, Baker continues, Reich in fact found that the healthy person needs less sexual activity and that the orgasm has a function to maintain health only for the healthy person.
In 1905, Freud developed the psychoanalytic distinction between clitoral and vaginal orgasm, with only the latter being identified with psychosexual maturity. This distinction has since been challenged among others on physiological grounds. For example, Masters and Johnson wrote: "Are clitoral and vaginal orgasms truly separate and anatomic entities? From a biological point of view the answer to this question is an unequivocal NO." However, a clinically grounded qualitative distinction between psychosexual maturity and immaturity was only introduced with Reich's concept orgastic potency vs. orgastic impotence (instead of vaginal vs. clitoral). As Masters and Johnson focussed on phenomena shared by all sexual climaxes – ranging from what Reich categorised as orgastic potency to impotence – their finding has no direct relevance to or implications for Reich's distinction.
Psychoanalysis
In the following articles Reich discussed the positive and negative therapeutic reactions of patients to changes in their genitality:
Biology
In the following articles Reich explored whether the orgasm theory was rooted in physiology:
Rycroft 1971, p. 33. "Reich's account of the ideal sexual act is remarkable both for its explicitness, which must have required courage in the pre-Kinsey, pre-Masters and Johnson era in which it was written, and for its omission of the word 'love'. And yet it is clear that it is love that he is talking about. Orgastic potency as formulated by Reich is the capacity to love body and soul, psychosomatically." - Rycroft, Charles (1971), Reich, London: Fontana
Mah & Binik 2001. "Reich's model takes a unisex, 'integrated biopsychological perspective.'" - Mah, Kenneth; Binik, Yitzchak M. (2001). "The nature of human orgasm: a critical review of major trends". Clinical Psychology Review. 21 (6): 823–856. doi:10.1016/s0272-7358(00)00069-6. PMID 11497209. https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fs0272-7358%2800%2900069-6
Corrington, Robert S. (2003). Wilhelm Reich: Psychoanalyst and Radical Naturalist. New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux. p. 88. The coda to the entire argument of Genitality was sounded in two striking sentences: 'Satisfied genital object love is thus [the justified aim] of our therapeutic efforts.'
Baker 1986, p. 12 (in pdf). - Baker, Elsworth (1986), "Sexual Theories of Wilhelm Reich" (PDF), Journal of Orgonomy, 20 (2): 175–194, ISSN 0022-3298, OCLC 1754708, archived (PDF) from the original on 2012-07-10 http://www.orgonomy.org/articles/Baker/Sexual_Theories_of_Wilhelm_Reich.pdf
Gabriel, Yiannis (1983). Freud and Society. Routledge. p. 178. https://books.google.com/books?id=suI9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA178
Raknes 1944. - Raknes, Ola (March 1944), "Sex-economy: A theory of living functioning", International Journal of Sex-Economy and Orgone-Research, 3 (1), (under pseudonym Carl Arnold): 17–37, OCLC 5917664 https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/5917664
Sharaf 1994, pp. 91–92, 100, 116. - Sharaf, Myron (1994) [unabridged republication of the 1983 New York: St. Martin's Press ed.], Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich (1st Da Capo Press ed.), Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, ISBN 978-0-306-80575-2
Sharaf 1994, pp. 100–101. - Sharaf, Myron (1994) [unabridged republication of the 1983 New York: St. Martin's Press ed.], Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich (1st Da Capo Press ed.), Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, ISBN 978-0-306-80575-2
"Letter from Freud to Lou Andreas-Salomé, May 9, 1928", Sigmund Freud and Lou Andreas-Salomé Letters, 89:174–175, The International Psycho-Analytical Library. http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=ipl.089.0174a
Sharaf 1994, pp. 238–241, 243. - Sharaf, Myron (1994) [unabridged republication of the 1983 New York: St. Martin's Press ed.], Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich (1st Da Capo Press ed.), Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, ISBN 978-0-306-80575-2
Boadella 1985, pp. 102, 135. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Boadella 1985, p. 23. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Sharaf 1994, pp. 86–105. - Sharaf, Myron (1994) [unabridged republication of the 1983 New York: St. Martin's Press ed.], Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich (1st Da Capo Press ed.), Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, ISBN 978-0-306-80575-2
Boadella 1985, p. 16. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Sharaf 1994, pp. 86–105. - Sharaf, Myron (1994) [unabridged republication of the 1983 New York: St. Martin's Press ed.], Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich (1st Da Capo Press ed.), Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, ISBN 978-0-306-80575-2
Raknes 1944. - Raknes, Ola (March 1944), "Sex-economy: A theory of living functioning", International Journal of Sex-Economy and Orgone-Research, 3 (1), (under pseudonym Carl Arnold): 17–37, OCLC 5917664 https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/5917664
Sharaf 1994, pp. 86–105. - Sharaf, Myron (1994) [unabridged republication of the 1983 New York: St. Martin's Press ed.], Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich (1st Da Capo Press ed.), Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, ISBN 978-0-306-80575-2
Raknes 1944. - Raknes, Ola (March 1944), "Sex-economy: A theory of living functioning", International Journal of Sex-Economy and Orgone-Research, 3 (1), (under pseudonym Carl Arnold): 17–37, OCLC 5917664 https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/5917664
Sharaf 1994, pp. 86–105. - Sharaf, Myron (1994) [unabridged republication of the 1983 New York: St. Martin's Press ed.], Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich (1st Da Capo Press ed.), Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, ISBN 978-0-306-80575-2
Raknes 1944. - Raknes, Ola (March 1944), "Sex-economy: A theory of living functioning", International Journal of Sex-Economy and Orgone-Research, 3 (1), (under pseudonym Carl Arnold): 17–37, OCLC 5917664 https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/5917664
Daniels 2008, "Neurotic Sexuality". - Daniels, Victor (10 May 2008), "Lecture notes on Wilhelm Reich and His Influence", Victor Daniels' Website in The Psychology Department, Sonoma State University, archived from the original on 2012-06-18 http://www.sonoma.edu/users/d/daniels/reichlecture.html
Daniels 2008, "Neurotic Sexuality". - Daniels, Victor (10 May 2008), "Lecture notes on Wilhelm Reich and His Influence", Victor Daniels' Website in The Psychology Department, Sonoma State University, archived from the original on 2012-06-18 http://www.sonoma.edu/users/d/daniels/reichlecture.html
Rycroft 1971, pp. 29–31. - Rycroft, Charles (1971), Reich, London: Fontana
Reich 1980, p. 18. - Reich, Wilhelm (1980) [Published in 1927 as Die Funktion des Orgasmus: Zur Psychopathologie und zur Soziologie des Geschlechtslebens], Genitality in the Theory and Therapy of Neurosis, Trans. by Philip Schmitz, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Reich 1999, p. 102. Note: the original reads "damned-up" but this is probably a typo. - Reich, Wilhelm (1999) [First English tr. published 1942], The Function of the Orgasm: Sex-Economic Problems of Biological Energy, Volume I, The Discovery of the Orgone, translated by Vincent R. Carfagno, London: Souvenir Press, ISBN 978-0-285-64970-5
Reich 1961, p. 10. - Reich, Wilhelm (1961), Selected Writings: An Introduction to Orgonomy, Foreword by Mary Boyd Higgins, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ISBN 978-0374501976
Boadella 1985, pp. 17–18. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Mah & Binik 2001. "Reich's model takes a unisex, 'integrated biopsychological perspective.'" - Mah, Kenneth; Binik, Yitzchak M. (2001). "The nature of human orgasm: a critical review of major trends". Clinical Psychology Review. 21 (6): 823–856. doi:10.1016/s0272-7358(00)00069-6. PMID 11497209. https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fs0272-7358%2800%2900069-6
Boadella 1985, pp. 17–18. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Reich 1999, pp. 6–8. - Reich, Wilhelm (1999) [First English tr. published 1942], The Function of the Orgasm: Sex-Economic Problems of Biological Energy, Volume I, The Discovery of the Orgone, translated by Vincent R. Carfagno, London: Souvenir Press, ISBN 978-0-285-64970-5
Konia 1987. - Konia, Charles (1987), "A Patient Brought to Genitality" (PDF), Journal of Orgonomy, 21 (2): 172–184, ISSN 0022-3298, OCLC 1754708, archived (PDF) from the original on 2012-06-05 http://www.orgonomy.org/articles/Konia/A_Patient_Brought_to_Genitality.pdf
Reich 1961, p. 10. - Reich, Wilhelm (1961), Selected Writings: An Introduction to Orgonomy, Foreword by Mary Boyd Higgins, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ISBN 978-0374501976
Daniels 2008, "Sexuality and Armoring". - Daniels, Victor (10 May 2008), "Lecture notes on Wilhelm Reich and His Influence", Victor Daniels' Website in The Psychology Department, Sonoma State University, archived from the original on 2012-06-18 http://www.sonoma.edu/users/d/daniels/reichlecture.html
Reich 1961, pp. 9–12. - Reich, Wilhelm (1961), Selected Writings: An Introduction to Orgonomy, Foreword by Mary Boyd Higgins, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ISBN 978-0374501976
Raknes 1944. - Raknes, Ola (March 1944), "Sex-economy: A theory of living functioning", International Journal of Sex-Economy and Orgone-Research, 3 (1), (under pseudonym Carl Arnold): 17–37, OCLC 5917664 https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/5917664
Reich 1961, pp. 9–12. - Reich, Wilhelm (1961), Selected Writings: An Introduction to Orgonomy, Foreword by Mary Boyd Higgins, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ISBN 978-0374501976
Raknes 1944. - Raknes, Ola (March 1944), "Sex-economy: A theory of living functioning", International Journal of Sex-Economy and Orgone-Research, 3 (1), (under pseudonym Carl Arnold): 17–37, OCLC 5917664 https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/5917664
Sharaf 1994, pp. 238–241, 243. - Sharaf, Myron (1994) [unabridged republication of the 1983 New York: St. Martin's Press ed.], Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich (1st Da Capo Press ed.), Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, ISBN 978-0-306-80575-2
Daniels 2008, "Neurotic Sexuality". - Daniels, Victor (10 May 2008), "Lecture notes on Wilhelm Reich and His Influence", Victor Daniels' Website in The Psychology Department, Sonoma State University, archived from the original on 2012-06-18 http://www.sonoma.edu/users/d/daniels/reichlecture.html
Reich, Wilhelm (1971). The Invasion of Compulsory Sex-Morality (3rd ed.). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Archived from the original on 2012-06-05 – via Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust. https://web.archive.org/web/20120605231311/http://www.wilhelmreichtrust.org/invasion_of_compulsory_sex-morality.html
Boadella 1985, p. 62. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Boadella 1985, pp. 103–104. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Reich 1982, pp. 8–9. - Reich, Wilhelm (1982), Bioelectrical investigation of sexuality and anxiety, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ISBN 978-0-374-28843-3
Boadella 1985, pp. 103–104. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Boadella 1985, pp. 103–104. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Reich 1982, pp. 68–69. - Reich, Wilhelm (1982), Bioelectrical investigation of sexuality and anxiety, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ISBN 978-0-374-28843-3
Boadella 1985, p. 109. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Baker 1986, pp. 6–7 (in pdf). - Baker, Elsworth (1986), "Sexual Theories of Wilhelm Reich" (PDF), Journal of Orgonomy, 20 (2): 175–194, ISSN 0022-3298, OCLC 1754708, archived (PDF) from the original on 2012-07-10 http://www.orgonomy.org/articles/Baker/Sexual_Theories_of_Wilhelm_Reich.pdf
Boadella 1985, pp. 131, 135. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Boadella 1985, pp. 131–134. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
In Reich 1951, Reich wrote: "Neuroses cannot be cured with physical orgone energy." quoted in Gardner 1957, p. 256. - Reich, Wilhelm (1951). The Orgone Energy Accumulator, its Scientific and Medical Use. Rangeley, ME: Wilhelm Reich Foundation. OCLC 869370982. https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/869370982
Reich, W. (April 1950), "Notes", Orgone Energy Bulletin, 2 (2), quoted in "November 2011 Update From The Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust and The Wilhelm Reich Museum". Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust. Archived from the original on 2012-04-08. Retrieved 2013-01-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20120408151023/http://www.wilhelmreichtrust.org/update_11_11.html
Sharaf 1994, pp. 86–105. - Sharaf, Myron (1994) [unabridged republication of the 1983 New York: St. Martin's Press ed.], Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich (1st Da Capo Press ed.), Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, ISBN 978-0-306-80575-2
Sharaf 1994, p. 4. - Sharaf, Myron (1994) [unabridged republication of the 1983 New York: St. Martin's Press ed.], Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich (1st Da Capo Press ed.), Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, ISBN 978-0-306-80575-2
Boadella 1985, p. 19. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Freud 1948, p. 54, quoted in Boadella 1985, p. 20. - Freud, Sigmund (1948), Inhibitions, Symptoms, Anxiety, Hogarth Press
Freud 1942, quoted in Sharaf 1994, pp. 100–101. - Freud, Sigmund (1942), Letter to Reich
"Letter from Freud to Lou Andreas-Salomé, May 9, 1928", Sigmund Freud and Lou Andreas-Salomé Letters, 89:174–175, The International Psycho-Analytical Library. http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=ipl.089.0174a
Rycroft 1971, p. 29. - Rycroft, Charles (1971), Reich, London: Fontana
Rycroft 1971, pp. 18–22. - Rycroft, Charles (1971), Reich, London: Fontana
Boadella 1985, p. 19. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Raknes 1944. - Raknes, Ola (March 1944), "Sex-economy: A theory of living functioning", International Journal of Sex-Economy and Orgone-Research, 3 (1), (under pseudonym Carl Arnold): 17–37, OCLC 5917664 https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/5917664
Rycroft 1971, pp. 34, 36–37. - Rycroft, Charles (1971), Reich, London: Fontana
Rycroft 1971, p. 31. - Rycroft, Charles (1971), Reich, London: Fontana
Sharaf 1994, p. 86. - Sharaf, Myron (1994) [unabridged republication of the 1983 New York: St. Martin's Press ed.], Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich (1st Da Capo Press ed.), Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, ISBN 978-0-306-80575-2
Boadella 1974, p. 21. - Boadella, David (1974), Wilhelm Reich: the evolution of his work, Chicago, IL: H. Regnery Co https://archive.org/details/wilhelmreichevol0000boad/page/20/mode/2up?q=nunberg
Kronfeld 1927, quoted in Boadella 1985, p. 19. - Kronfeld, Arthur (1927), "Review of Die Funktion des Orgasmus", Archiv für Frauenkunde, 14
Boadella 1985, p. 21. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Boadella 1985, pp. 23–24. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Erikson quoted in Boadella 1985, pp. 23–25. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Hinsie and Campbell quoted in Boadella 1985, pp. 24–25. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
"Search: 'reich AND orgas*'". PubMed.gov. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2012-09-09. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=reich%20AND%20orgas*
Boadella 1985, pp. 30–31. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Philipson 1952, quoted in Boadella 1985, p. 31. - Philipson, Tage (1952), Kaerlighedslivet: Natur Eller Unnatur, Copenhagen
Boadella 1985, p. 31. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Boadella 1985, p. 32. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Baker 1986, pp. 1, 12 (in pdf). - Baker, Elsworth (1986), "Sexual Theories of Wilhelm Reich" (PDF), Journal of Orgonomy, 20 (2): 175–194, ISSN 0022-3298, OCLC 1754708, archived (PDF) from the original on 2012-07-10 http://www.orgonomy.org/articles/Baker/Sexual_Theories_of_Wilhelm_Reich.pdf
Boadella 1985, p. 30. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Boadella 1985, p. 28. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Kinsey 1948, pp. 59–60, quoted in Boadella 1985, p. 26. - Kinsey, Alfred; et al. (1948), Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male, New York
Kinsey 1953, p. 628, quoted in Boadella 1985, pp. 26–27. - Kinsey, Alfred; et al. (1953), Sexual Behaviour in the Human Female, New York
Boadella 1985, pp. 26–27. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Boadella 1985, pp. 28–29. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Boadella 1985, p. 27. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Masters and Johnson 1963, quoted in Boadella 1985, p. 28. - Masters, W.H.; Johnson, V.E. (1963), "The sexual response cycle of the human female III. The Clitoris: anatomic and clinical considerations", West. J. Surg. Obst. Gynec.
Boadella 1985, p. 28. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Boadella 1985, p. 28. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London
Reich 1980: Foreword to the First Edition (p. 3). - Reich, Wilhelm (1980) [Published in 1927 as Die Funktion des Orgasmus: Zur Psychopathologie und zur Soziologie des Geschlechtslebens], Genitality in the Theory and Therapy of Neurosis, Trans. by Philip Schmitz, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Reich 1927. - Reich, Wilhelm (1927). Funktion des Orgasmus. Leipzig - Wien - Zürich: Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag – via Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/FunktionDesOrgasmus
Boadella 1985, pp. 102, 135. - Boadella, David (1985), Wilhelm Reich: The Evolution of His Work, London