9 : Reich’s Illness and Sanatarium Stay in Davos, Switzerland: Winter 1927The year 1926 had been a difficult one for Reich. It included Freud’s coolness
toward his orgasm theory and character-analytic technique, the death of his brother,
and incipient problems in his marriage. How much his emotional state contributed to
the tuberculosis that sent Reich for several months’ rest during the winter of 1927 to
a Swiss sanatarium we cannot say. There is evidence to suggest that Reich thought it
did, especially his depression over Freud’s reaction to his work^1. Whatever the role of
Freud in precipitating the illness, Reich’s relationship with his mentor was clearly much
on his mind during his sanatarium stay. A photo of Reich taken at the sanatarium in
Davos in February 1927 bears the inscription in Reich’s handwriting: “Conflict with
Freud.”
Reich’s sense of being rejected by Freud may not have been limited to scien-
tific disagreements. Use Ollendorff has reported that Annie Reich stated Reich sought
a personal analysis from Freud and was refused^2. The implication in this account is
that Reich sought the analysis prior to his TB attack, but Annie Reich is not quoted as
specifically stating the time of the request. Rather, she emphasized the heavy impact
on Reich of Freud’s refusal.
My own conjecture is that both request and refusal occurred before the illness,
and that they were among the precipitants of the “conflict with Freud,” together with
the theoretical differences between the two men.This view is based in part upon the
severity ofReich’s depressive reaction at the time of his illness. Reich himself never
mentioned his request to be analyzed by Freud and Freud’s refusal to anyone that I
knew.He much preferred to concentrate on his scientific disagreements with Freud; it
would be entirely characteristic of him to keep silent about such a personal rejection.
Freud’s stated reason for refusing Reich’s request was his reluctance to take
Viennese colleagues into treatment, on the grounds that to do so would complicate
their work relationship. However, Freud was never hesitant to break a rule when it suit-
ed him.He had analyzed Helena Deutsch and Heinz Hartmann, for example, both of
Reich’s generation and both resident in Vienna. In short, we do not know Freud’s real
reason for denying Reich’s request.
One can infer the degree of rejection Reich suffered in 1926-27 from his later
remarks about his relationship with Freud. In the late 1930s, Ola Raknes, a Norwegian
psychoanalyst,was in treatment with Reich, well after Reich had left the psychoanalyt-
ic movement. At one point Reich said to his patient that when Raknes was through with
114 Myron SharafFury On Earth