existence of such a process^14.The characterological resignation led to a biopathic shrinking of cell functioning.
Here Reich used a “core” model:
Let us think of the biological, physiological and psychological functions in
terms of a wide circle with a center (core). The shrinking of the circle periphery
would then correspond to the characterological and emotional resignation. The
center, the core, is as yet untouched. But the process progresses toward the center,
the biological core. This biological core is nothing but the sum total of all plasmat-
ic cell functions. When the shrinking process reaches this core, then the plasma
itself begins to shrink^15.
He carefully noted that “these processes in cancer can only be deduced but not
directly observed microscopically.” He could however observe the resignation of cancer
patients as well as the rapid disintegration of red blood cells or the presence of cancer cells
in sputum and excreta. And he postulated the intervening variable of a shrinking within the
organism’s core that led to the diminution of excitation and affect, to what he called “stag-
nancy.”
Muscularly, Reich found spasms in various body segments of cancer patients. Many
of these, especially in sexual areas such as the chest and pelvis, proved to be sites for tumor
development. The muscular rigidities were part and parcel of the deadening process con-
ducive to tumors.
Respiration in cancer patients proved chronically deficient. Here Reich connected
with an earlier observation of Otto Warburg, who in 1924 had related oxygen deficiency to
cancer.
Recent research has noted several personality variables characteristic of cancer—
resignation, loss of hope, an almost “painful acquiescence,” and emotional blockage. The
studies have not yet conclusively demonstrated that these personality traits precededthe onset
ofcancer.However, it has been found that cancer patients who can more freely express their
emotions have a better prognosis than those who do not^16.
Perhaps the most striking convergence between Reich’s approach and current psy-
chosomatic research lies in the new field of psychoimmunology. This discipline has found
that individuals who have undergone severe stress, such as loss of a loved one, are more like-
ly than a control group to suffer disturbances in the immune system and reduced resistance
to diverse illnesses^17.
I cite these studies to suggest that Reich was years ahead of his time in connecting
emotional states with the cancer process. His explanation provides physiological links (e.g.,
reduced respiration) between the psychic attitude of resignation, on the one hand, and the
cancerous tissue disintegration, on the other.
Boadella has summarized this perceptively:
Reich was far ahead of traditional cancer research, which only recently, in22 : The Medical Effects of the Accumulator: 1940-1948 281