Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) was a medical doctor educated at the University of Vienna, and trained as a psychiatrist under Julius von Wagner-Jauregg and Sigmund Freud. As a prominent psychoanalyst in Freud’s inner circle, Reich made path-breaking contributions to the understanding of psychiatric disorders, as well as to the theory and technique of psychoanalysis.

Pursuing Freud’s original energetic model of health and concept of libido, Reich came to see the libido as a form of life energy, and eventually coined a new term for this energy, orgone energy.  He made the study of this energy his main focus for the last two decades of his life.

Reich had a pervasive influence on 20th century culture: in psychiatry (Anna Freud, Otto Fenichel, Erich Fromm, Erik Erikson, Melanie Klein and others), body-psychotherapy (Fritz Perls, Arthur Janov, Alexander Lowen, Moshe Feldenkrais, Ida Rolf and others), literature (J. D. Salinger, Arthur Koestler, George Orwell, Saul Bellow, Aldous Huxley, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Norman Mailer, Sigurd Hoel and others), music (Kate Bush, Patti Smith, Lennie Tristano, Gil Evans, Bill Crow, Jeanne Walsh Singer and others), philosophy (T. W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Michel Foucault and others). At various times, other figures in the arts have expressed more than a passing interest in Reich (Jack Nicholson, Sean Connery, Orson Bean, William Steig, Kenneth Noland, Jo Jenks, Mike Kelley, Elaine de Kooning, Dan Graham, Carolee Schneeman, Jeanne Fitzgerald and others).

Reich’s functional approach made his work cross many disciplines, yet remain coherent in its totality. Individuals and groups the world over continue to study Reich’s pioneering contributions to understanding of human health, mass psychology and basic energetic functions and correlations in nature. It is our hope that we might provide sources which help you to find personal engagement with the rich, living legacy of Wilhelm Reich, and discover its continuing relevance to your own life and work.