Page    1   2   3   4   5   6   of this article. Armoring  -  Man in the Trap   Throughout therapy, one never ceases to be aware of the eyes, but watches them constantly. They may have a different expression from the oral segment. For example, when the face is looked at as a whole the total expression may be one of anger; but when the eyes are looked at alone they may only appear sad, and the anger is found in the mouth. One cannot overemphasize the importance of mobilizing the eyes and should never proceed further until the eyes can tolerate further release of energy. They are actually an extension of the brain and our only means of mobilizing the brain. I have seen too many cases in consultation where the eyes were neglected and armoring removed from the remainder of the body. The patient gives a picture of panic, expressed in the eyes, a masklike face and acute distress. This is not an easy situation to overcome.   The Oral Segment General Description The second segment includes the muscles controlling the chin and throat, the annular muscle at the mouth, and the muscles of the occiput. Together, they make a functional unit, so that dissolution of one part of the armor affects all the rest. For example, dissolution of the armoring of the masseters will lead to clonisms of the lips and jaw and the release of emotions natural to the area--crying and a wish to suck. The whole oral segment may in some cases be mobilized by eliciting the gag reflex. This is done by having the patient put his finger down his throat without stopping breathing. Full expression of the oral segment depends on the free mobility of the ocular or first segment and, sometimes, on loosening of lower segments. For example, crying may not be complete until the two subsequent segments are free. The jaw may be tight with clenched teeth or unnaturally loose; the lips may be thin and determined or thick and sensuous.   Signs and Symptoms One may observe a silly grin, a sarcastic smile, or a contemptuous sneer. A timidly. friendly smile may be present or the mouth may be sad or even hard and cruel. The chin may sag, or be flat, pale, and lifeless. it may be pushed forward, giving a pugnacious appearance and causing a tightening of the floor of the mouth which holds back crying. A tight jaw leads to a monotonous, restrained voice. A tight throat leads to a whining, high, weak voice and harsh breathing. The mouth may be dry (from anxiety) or there may be excessive salivation (from un-satisfied oral needs). The patient may speak little or talk constantly under pressure, or even stutter. The facial expressions as a whole should be observed carefully; the depressed face, the artificially beaming one, the one with stiff and sagging cheeks heavily with tears, or the one with masklike stiffness from suppressed crying. A wooden expression may be the result of an early attempt to avoid "making faces." Children are taught not to make faces, or "they will freeze that way." Also, the "face at the window," seen or imagined in early childhood, may be found frozen in a patient's expression. Children learn very early that faces must be rigidly controlled. The oral segment generally holds back angrily biting, crying, yelling, sucking, and grimacing. During expiration some patients one will notice a progressive closing of the throat. This is the same mechanism that is active during the initial stage of swallowing. They must swallow back each impulse. Severe holding in the jaw may cause temporal headaches.   Therapeutic Principles The therapist should stop the patient's talking, if excessive, and keep him from making extraneous or aggressive movements. have him accentuate the expression he is showing. If this accomplishes nothing, stop it. Exciting the patient causes a push of energy and eliminates voluntary defenses, allowing involuntary expressions to come out. Encourage these expressions. Direct work on the masseters and chin may be indicated, or having the patient make sounds that tend to mobilize the lips and throat may help. If crying is being held back the patient will try in vain to talk with a loud and resonant voice. Suppression of crying is frequently associated with nausea due to tension in the muscles of the floor of the mouth. Working on the submental muscles or on gagging may bring out the crying. Sometimes having the patient imitate crying causes release. The need to bite is almost always present and the patient may be allowed to bite a suitable object such as a towel. Sometimes in depression the expression remains depressed even after armor is dissolved. This is from habit and can be overcome by having the patient smile. In stutterers the jaw, lips, tongue, and soft palate may each have to be dealt with separately, making the sounds puh for the lips, wah for the lips and jaw, lah for the tongue, and kuh for the soft palate.   The Cervical Segment General Description The third segment comprises the deep muscles of the neck, the platysma, and the sternocleido mastoids. It also includes the tongue, which is inserted mainly on the cervical bone system. The emotional function of armoring in the neck is to hold back anger or crying. The result is a stiff neck, a stubbornness, "I won't cry." Anger or crying is literally swallowed without the patient's even being aware of it. A fear of being choked leads to a lump in the throat and covers a desire to choke someone else. It is seen frequently in hysterics in connection with a fantasy of the father's penis in the throat, and of being choked by it. Their desire to choke leads to guilt and to a fear of being choked, a displacement of energy from lower segments upward (from hands and arms to throat). Some patients have a very sensitive larynx from a fear of having their throat cut.   Signs and symptoms Frequent swallowing, voice changes, harsh breathing, cough-ing, the sensation of a lump in the throat, and choking sensations (fellatio fantasies) are the major indications of armor in this segment.   Therapeutic Principles Elicit the gag reflex and reduce spasms of the sterno mastoids and deep muscles of the neck. Also elicit screaming and yelling. Remember the neck is very vulnerable, and one must proceed with great caution as there are many important nerves, vessels, and the larynx-all of which can be easily injured. I had one patient who suffered a severe bradycardia from pressure on the vagus due to armoring.   The Thoracic Segment General Description Although the chest segment can be divided into upper and lower parts, it can best be considered as a whole. It consists of the intercostal muscles, pectorals, deltoids, muscles of the scapula, spinal muscles, the chest cage and its contents, and the hands and arms. It is the most important segment because it contains the most vital structures, the heart and the lungs. It is the first segment to be blocked, by holding in inspiration to reduce anxiety. Thus expiration is never complete. Blocking places pressure on the solar plexus and reduces sympathetic excitation. In schizo-phrenia, the eyes have been damaged as well as the chest in the first ten days of life. A chronic attitude of inspiration is the most important means of suppressing any emotion. In the majority of cases, this armor-ing should be reduced first in order to build up energy in breath-ing, and to put more inner pressure on blocks. If the chest moves freely one has increased functioning even though further progress is impossible. in depressives the chest must be mobilized quickly to I build up energy 36 and reverse the dying process. In patients w with a high charge, however, mobilization of the chest may be dangerous so that an outlet for energy must be provided first (such as the lower limbs). Asthma is a special condition occurring in chest armoring in which there is a parasympathetic over-excitation to overcome sympathetic contraction. The patient assumes a calm and brave facade to cover up his deep anxiety. In other words, he refuses to be anxious. Deep rage is behind this facade, a rage caused by an inability to show anxiety; behind the rage is a deeper layer of anxiety. Thus, we have a calm facade, superficial anxiety, rage, deep anxiety. To overcome the condition one must make the patient anxious or make him imitate anxiety; in a sense, one must cause him to back away from the block. If the attack is slight, it can be relieved by having the patient vocalize- ahhhhhhhhhhhh. (According to Reich every asthmatic has a fantasized penis in his throat.) In coronary or other heart conditions one must proceed with great caution or heart failure may occur. In coronary cases, the chest is very rigid and great caution is necessary in mobilization. If pain or pallor occurs one must stop, and one should always have cardiac stimulants handy. Once the chest is mobilized, however, a great strain is removed from the heart. In the average patient the chest is usually rigid and does not move in respiration. It is held high in the inspiratory position and eventually gives rise to emphysema. If the chest does move, it may be high or low, rigid or soft, but with small excursion. In schizophrenia the chest is soft but movement barely perceptible. The shoulders are held either back or forward but do not respond to breathing, and the head, instead of falling gently back-ward in expiration, usually comes forward or is jerked back forcibly. The spinal muscles may be acutely contracted. These are important regions of holding back and may prevent the chest from moving. They contain spite, a frozen anger. The inter-coastals are sensitive and painful and the patient may be very ticklish. The emotions held in the chest arc heartbreak, bitter sobbing, rage (stronger than that found in the oral segment), reaching, and longing. These are deep emotions which when expressed afford much relief. ("A weight has been lifted from my chest.") The hands may be cold, clammy, and weak from withdrawal of energy. Armoring does not interfere much with manual dexterity, but withdrawal of energy does. The latter is an indication of more emotionally charged material and of more explosive emotions. Laughing seems to come from the chest and is the least understood of the emotional expressions. Animals do not laugh. 37 Primarily laughter is probably an expression of joy, but it seems to be a response to any excitation above the tolerance level. Laughing and crying may be interchangeable for any other emotion or for each other in addition to their basic functions. Natural crying is a result of need; as a secondary reaction it is a socially more acceptable vehicle for emotions such as rage.   Signs and Symptoms An armored chest basically expresses restraint and self-control and will give a feeling of being unmoved or unaffected by events. Where there is no armor, the expressive motions of chest and arms give a free buoyant feeling. Typical armor is a chronic expiatory expansion, as if one had taken a very deep breath and not let it out, and it can be accompanied by high blood pressure, palpitation, and anxiety. Continued for a long time, a disposition to tuberculosis or pneumonia may develop, or the heart may become enlarged. For the patient with an armored chest, rage is cold, crying is unmanly and longing is too soft. Reaching out or embracing are not felt vegetatively. The hands lose their orgonotic charge and are cold, clammy, and painful (leading to Raynaud's disease). Behind the clamminess of the hands, there may be an impulse to choke which is armored off in the shoulder blades and hands. Women who are armored in this segment have insensitive breasts and are disgusted at nursing. A knot may be felt in the chest from a spasm of the esophagus, behind which is a holding back of angry yelling. The related anxiety can be elicited by pushing on the chest and have the patient yell. The chest holding is mainly "I won't," and the ability to give and surrender depends on mobility of this segment. Early memories of disappointment and mistreatment may come out with release of the emotions of the chest, which is usually blocked very early. Memories seem bound in plasmatic immobility and are reactivated when excitation occurs.   Therapeutic Principles Increase breathing with instructions to follow through in expiration, exert pressure on the chest during expiration or press gently on the epigastrium, and work directly on the intercostal muscles, deltoids, and spinal muscles. Elicit hitting, choking, tearing, scratching, yelling, rage, and sobbing, and finally, reaching with longing. Opening and closing the hands softly may bring out otherwise unnoticed anxiety. I saw one case of severe chronic headache produced through holding back impulses in the hands and arms. Where there is doubt between two emotions, use the more aggressive expression. For example, if a patient wants to cry he will do so after rage; but if he wants to get angry crying will inhibit his expression. The patient may continue one emotion to avoid another. When he appears to be enjoy it, it is time to stop it.   The Diaphragmatic Segment General Description The diaphragm separates the body into upper and lower parts and may be compared to a height of land. Above the diaphragm, expression is upward to the eyes, mouth, and arms. Below, the expression is through the pelvis. The stomach contents may be expelled in either direction. The fifth segment includes the diaphragm and organs under it and does not depend on the mobility of the chest for functioning. The diaphragm may remain immobile even though the chest moves, and Nice versa. It comprises a contraction ring over the epigastrium, and lower end of the sternum, and goes along the inner ribs to the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth thoracic vertebrae. It contains the diaphragm, stomach, solar plexus, pancreas, liver, gall bladder, duodenum, kidneys, and two muscle bundles along the lower thoracic vertebrae. Armoring is expressed by lordosis of the spine (hollow under the patient's back). Breathing out is with effort and the abdomen balloons. The first four segments must be free before it can be loosened. For this, repeatedly eliciting the gag reflex without interrupting expiration is effective. When this is free, wave like movements occur in the upper part of the body with a feeling of giving; that is, the torso tends to fold up with each expiration. This segment holds severe murderous rage.   Signs and Symptoms Symptoms are nervous stomach disorders, more or less constant nausea with an inability to vomit, peptic ulcer, gall bladder disease, liver conditions, and diabetes. The major abdominal organs are at the diaphragm, and blocking causes many psycho-somatic diseases.   Therapeutic Principles Relieve the block by gagging and respiration. When the segment is opening, vomiting occurs.   The Abdominal Segment This is the sixth armor ring. It includes the large abdominal muscles, the rectus, transversis abdominus, and muscles of the back (latissimus dorsi and sacro spinalis). The muscles at the flanks are especially important because in them one first finds tension from stasis 38 in an unarmored person. Armored flanks produce ticklishness and hold spite. Stasis can be relieved by freeing tension in these muscles. Fear of attack is found in tension in the lumbar muscles, and is similar to tension in the neck from a desire to duck. Therapy is simple if the higher segments are open. Masses in the abdomen may appear and disappear during treatment of this segment.    next page Page    1   2   3   4   5   6   of this article.   Footnotes 36.  Energy charge can usually by estimated by the appearance of the in-dividual, color of the skin, and ability for sustained effort. However, accurate estimation is made by examination of the red blood cells. The higher the charge, the fuller are the cells, the redder their color, and more extensive their energy fields.  back to text 37.  The higher apes as experimental animals apparently do laugh and play tricks. These, however, are not living in the natural state and are subjected to human conditioning.  back to text 38.  See "Stasis," p. 104.  back to text