rectly, he could observe, after the dissolution of the armor segments, that not only was the
respiration felt all through the body, with sensations of pleasure following expiration, but a
wave of spontaneous, involuntary movements went through the body from the throat
downward and upward. If the patient lay on his back with his knees raised to an angle of
about forty-five degrees, breathing deeply and freely, his head would tilt slightly backward,
his shoulders slightly forward, the chest and the belly would sink and the pelvis raise itself
slightly from the couch, all these movements accompanying the exhalation in one wave.
In one of the first patients whom Reich treated with his new armordissolving tech-
nique, the spontaneous movements became quite reflex-like and so strong that they could
be held back only with an effort. Reich termed these movements the “orgasm reflex,”
because they also appeared during orgasm in orgastically potent persons.
The attainment of the orgasm reflex during therapy, as well as of orgastic potency
in sexual intercourse, became the twin goals of Reich’s treatment. It should be noted that
the orgasm reflex in therapy could be experienced without the sharp rise and discharge of
excitation characteristic of orgasm. The sine qua nonwere strong sensations of pleasurable
currents throughout the body, particularly in the pelvic area, and spontaneous, convulsive-
like free movements of the whole body. As Alexander Lowen noted from his own treatment
with Reich,it is possible to experience the orgasme reflex without beeing orgastically potent
in intercourse^8. The former was simpler. One had the encouragement oFthe therapist and
lacked all the problems involved in relating to a love partner in “real life.”
However, in therapy Reich and the patient were able to observe directly many of
the phenomena patients had previously only relatedfrom their sexual experiences. During the
end phases of treatment, some patients had reported difficulty in giving up hard, jerky
movements during intercourse and replacing them with softer, more gentle ones. The same
phenomenon was apparent in therapy: as the orgasm reflex developed, the patient would
substitute—as a way of controlling the intensity of the excitation—exaggerated, artificial
motions for the involuntary convulsions. Or he or she would suddenly become very still, as
in intercourse.
Observing the naked or near-naked body directly, concentrating his focus on bod-
ily changes, Reich was getting to where he had long wanted to be: a therapy that elicited and
dealt with the deepest emotions and with the flow ofenergy, which he now named “bio-
electricity.” Reich loved the concrete, the tangible. The study of the “end phase” of therapy
presented in condensed form the Reichian world—the world of intense sensation, of soft
movements culminating in convulsions of the body (the orgasm reflex). This was in sharp
contradistinction to the enemy within—tightenings of the throat, the pelvis, and the legs;
restriction ofbreathing, dulling of the eyes; expressions of intense anxiety; and the reemer-
gence of defensive character traits. These phenomena intensified in the face of increasing-
ly free, pleasurable sensations, sensations that in turn increased “orgasm anxiety” or the fear
of full surrender. Now Reich’s talent for observing transitions could most fully be employed,
as he observed a vague look in the patient’s eye, a sly smile, a restriction in breathing right
at the moment of genital excitation or the beginning of a “shutdown” of excitation.
226 Myron SharafFury On Earth