Page    1   2   of this article. Journal of Orgonomy Volume 2 no. 2 The Biopathic Diathesis Robert A. Dew, M.D. 1. Introduction Reich left an astounding legacy to medical science. The following partial list of his accomplishments is to orient us functionally and historically with regard to the biopathies. To those acquainted with his work, the overwhelming logic of his discoveries speaks for itself: 1.  Character analysis 2.  The principles of vegetative functioning; the function of the orgasm 3.  Muscular armoring 4.  Bions: the link between the non-living and the living 5.  The discovery of orgone energy 6.  The cancer biopathy: the organization of cancer cells from bions; the Reich blood test; the T-reaction 7.  The DOR function; the DOR-buster   In The Discovery of the Orgone, Volume II: The Cancer Biopathy, Reich discussed the variability of biopathic expression and laid the theoretical groundwork for the functional differentiation of the biopathies. His conclusions were based partly on his experiences in character analytic technique and orgone therapy. In other words, the disease entities and syndromes which he included under the heading of "biopathy" were chosen because clinical work with patients having these disorders revealed their biopathic nature. As far as I know, Reich did not attempt a comprehensive classification of the welter of disease states into biopathic and nonbiopathic categories. It is evident that he had not come to definite conclusions regarding certain conditions, e.g., tuberculosis and rheumatic heart disease. At any rate, I certainly have not yet had the opportunity to examine a sufficient number of patients with these diverse illnesses to come to firm conclusions on the basis of orgone-therapeutic and character-analytic techniques. It is obvious to me that this would take several lifetimes. Consequently, some of my inclusions in the list of biopathies are of necessity partially intuitive. There are, however, certain general features (apart from energetic considerations) of the biopathies that tend to distinguish them from nonbiopathic conditions: 1.  I can think of no biopathic syndrome for which classical medicine has a clearly proven explanation. They are diseases of "obscure origin." This is not intended as criticism, but simply a factual observation. Classical science has garnered a vast amount of information on the biochemical and biophysical concomitants of the biopathies, but it has been more or less continually frustrated in its efforts to find the agents responsible for their initiation. 2.  It has become increasingly evident to the clinicians of traditional medicine that the emotional life of the patient is deeply involved in the behavior of what we call "the biopathy." In other words, it is generally agreed that there is a "psychosomatic component." 3.  The biopathies most frequently present with a functional disturbance which precedes the gross morphologic abnormalities. 4.  Biopathic processes are often characterized by prolonged courses punctuated by exacerbations and remissions for which there is no apparent explanation. Ultimately, they lead to a state in which there are irreversible morphologic and functional changes. 5.  The biopathies, even from a purely pathologic morphologic point of view, may involve the entire organism. That is to say, one frequently cannot point to a single anatomic nidus for the disease. This is particularly evident in such disorders as arteriosclerosis, hypertension, diabetes, and the collagen diseases. There are, however, notable exceptions: cholelithiasis, duodenal ulcer, uterine fibroids, etc.   On the above grounds, one's intuition takes on more concrete form. As was indicated, not every biopathy will satisfy each "criterion" listed; however, these points may be helpful in considering individual entities for inclusion in a theoretical compilation of biopathic disorders. This paper, since it is an introductory survey, will not treat individual diseases in great detail except to illustrate certain principles. The main purpose here is to review our inventory of theoretical and practical tools for dealing with the problem of biopathic differentiation. It is hoped that the syndrome-specific mechanisms suggested below serve as some sort of guide in approaching the biopathies. In addition, certain gaps in our understanding of biopathic specificity will emerge.   II. General Principles Reich defines the biopathies as "all those disease processes which take place in the autonomic life apparatus, or simply, in the plasmatic system that which all of these diseases have in common [is] a disturbance of the biological function of plasmatic pulsation in the total organism" (1: p.120). He further defines the central mechanism of the biopathy as a disturbance in the discharge of biosexual excitation which has as its root stasis and chronic contraction of the autonomic apparatus (1: p.132). With these definitions in mind, we address ourselves to the problem of what determines the development of the biopathic process into a specific syndrome complex.   The Mechanisms of Biopathic Differentiation It is quite clear that Reich related the sites of specific malfunctions, tumors, metastases, etc., to the location of chronic powerful muscle spasms, i.e., armorings. He also emphasized the role of total body charge in determining the fate of the organism. A third and most important determinant is how the organism reacts to chronic sexual stasis: The clinical comparison of the cancer biopathy and cardiovascular hypertension necessitated the assumption of a basically different energy process in the two: In the cardiovascular biopathy (stasis neurosis due to abstinence) the sexual excitation remains alive, biologically, physiologically, and emotionally. That is, the biological core of the organism, the autonomic vital apparatus, continues to produce energy to the fullest extent. The organism, in its state of contraction, reacts to this with outbreaks of anxiety or anger and with somatic symptoms such as hyperthyroidisim, diarrhea, tachycardia, etc. In cancer, on the other hand, the biological core reduces its energy production. Thus as time goes on, the excitations and emotions become weaker and weaker (1: pp. 177-8).   The Role of Lumination in the Biopathies It is evident that the capacity of lumination, whether we are dealing with unicellular or multicellular organisms, is related to the organism's total charge. Ontogenetically speaking, total body charge (and hence lumination) is one of the earliest and most fundamental determinants in biopathic differentiation. It is important here to review the reasons for this assertion. We know that the human organism gains energy from the atmosphere by direct radiation, by respiration, and from food intake. Energy is discharged in childbirth, growth, mental and physical work, the expression of emotion, the orgasm reflex, the maintenance of numerous metabolic processes, in excrete, and in combating disease. The lumination reaction in disease is perhaps second only to the orgasm reflex in its impact on the organism. Consider the events attending orgonotic lumination in illness.   1. Fever, tachycardia, diarrhea. 2. Leukocytosis,erythrocytosis,thrombocytosis (pancytosis). 3. "Mobilization" of the cells of the reticuloendothelial and lym-phatic systems. 4. Increased antibody production. a) Against foreign antigens. b) Against body-own antigens, i.e., autoantibodies. 5. The elaboration of "chemotaxic factors" causing diapedests and phagocytosis by the cellular elements of the blood. 6. Increased production of trophic hormones and the hormones of their target organs, e.g., adrenal gland. 7. Expansion of the blood plasma volume.   This incomplete list of course brings to mind an enormous number of disease states, as well as physiologic states such as pregnancy. One may well ask how these phenomena of lumination relate to the specificity of the biopathic syndromes. To repeat, the capacity for lumination depends primarily on the energetic state of the plasmatic system and the biological core. As we have seen, in the cancer biopathy, the plasmatic system is contracted, its charge is low, and the core is inexorably depleted by the defense mechanism of bionous disintegration. The capacity for lumination is manifestly impaired, biophysically and emotionally. In ulcerative colitis, by contrast, the course is one of exacerbations and remissions which must correspond to lumination and contraction. The core expands violently against the contraction, the total body charge is high, intense lumination and parasympatheticotonta ensues, with fever, inflammation and ulceration of the colon, diarrhea, blood loss, and dehydration. The pathophysiologic events have as their concomitant rage with anxiety. While bionous disintegration doubtless occurs, classical morphology reveals the bowel submucosa to be engorged with inflammatory cells. This is clearly a proliferation and infiltration by the body's own cells. It is not my intention here simply to reiterate Reich's assumption that two different energy processes are at work (although this is certainly germane) but to emphasize the importance of luminatory capacity in explaining differences in the natural history, pathophysiology, and morphology of two distinct biopathies. It seems reasonable, therefore, to propose the following scheme to depict the gross energy charges which distinguish the behavior of certain groups of biopathic syndromes. *As indicated here, the remission coincides with a decreased capacity for lumination. This, of course, depends upon: 1) the emotional push behind the lumination, i.e., the cause of the emotional upset behind the exacerbation may have been removed; 2) discharge of energy through the diseased mechanism itself, e.g., fluid, electrolyte, blood loss, fever, etc.; and 3) a normal cyclic change in energetic status. It is obvious that, while the total energy trend is the same, the course is different. It is interesting, and quite pertinent, that the inflammatory biopathies affect younger (i.e., more highly charged) people. The cancer syndrome becomes manifest more commonly in older people. The careful student of clinical medicine and pathology will raise serious objections at this juncture. He will correctly point out that inflammatory phenomena, fevers and auto-immune manifestations occur in cancer patients. He will point out, conversely, that our so-called inflammatory biopathies occasionally undergo malignant degeneration or develop incidental tumors of various kinds, e.g., colonic cancer in colitis; gastrointestinal tract and renal tumors in dermatomyositis. First of all, Reich never stated that cancer patients are incapable of lumination-quite the contrary: It should not be assumed that the organism accepts the gradual extinction without a fight. At a time when the orgonotic excitation of the total system decreases, the excitation may still be intense in individual cells, or cell systems, just as a suffocating organism defends itself against the final relaxation by clonismus. (1: p.178) As long as there is some energy left in the biosystem, lumination will occur. This is implied in the left end of our scheme above. Nevertheless, the red thread of the biopathy remains biophysical resignation with bionous disintegration. Secondly, while the red thread of the inflammatory biopathy is lumination against contraction, if the organism survives long enough, it may, energetically speaking, reach the same state as the shrinking biopathy. The occurrence of colonic malignancy in ulcerative colitis is rare and is usually a late development, i.e., when the case is "burnt-out"; in other words, when the capacity for lumination reaches the far right side of our graph. Clinicians are well aware of the observation that very old or chronically ill people often fail to become febrile in the presence of clear-cut infection. In fact, they may even exhibit sub-normal body temperatures on these occasions. This is quite rightly regarded as an ominous sign. It reveals the total incapacity for lumination and hence signifies the energetic collapse of the organism. What is surprising, at the same time bearing out the integrity of Reich’s assumption, is that malignant transformations do not occur more often than they do.   The Uterus and Heredity: The Biopathic Process and Intrauterine Development Classical medical science has amassed a wealth of statistical information on genetic factors in the incidence of various diseases. It would be a grave error to brush this aside as so much mechanistic wishful thinking. To be sure, to some degree, the preoccupation with genetics in the biopathies (particularly cancer) reveals a certain deep feeling of futility, and certainly has been responsible for carrying modern research up blind biochemical alleys. Nevertheless, there are, clearly, enough examples of genetic diseases in the literature, e.g., phenylketonuria and various other metabolic and hematologic disorders, to warrant this line of approach even if only for purposes of exclusion. To my knowledge, however, none of the biopathies has been conclusively demonstrated to follow the pattern of Mendelian genetics. There is no death of documentation for the familial incidence of certain of the biopathies, e.g., thyrotoxicosis, diabetes mellitus, and rheumatoid arthritis. From the literature, one gets the distinct impression that the word "familial" is more or less intended to convey the supposition that a genetic mechanism does exist, but it simply has escaped elucidation until now. The concept of genetic "penetrance" was evolved to explain the discrepancies observed. I prefer to use "familial" in its strictest sense; it at least puts us on factual grounds. Character analysis has clearly related the emotional atmosphere of the family to the structure and function of the individual. In The Function of the Orgasm and the Mass Psychology of Facism, we see how character attitudes are anchored in each succeeding generation. Since character attitudes are biophysical, the theoretical basis for the familial incidence of biopathic disease would seem to be on solid ground. Reich also touched upon the intrauterine factor in the biophysical fate of human beings (1: pp.339-40). We can only guess at the consequences to the fetus of spending nine months in a chronically spastic, characterologically "disgusted" uterus. It is reasonable to assume that the vitality of the placenta and fetus will suffer or prosper along with any other organ of the mother’s genital system. Inasmuch as embryonic development must involve lumination, streaming, and superimposition, it is entirely possible that congenital malformations are in part uterine in origin. The deleterious effects of drugs, viruses, and certain bacteria on embryogenesis would seem to bear this out. Likewise, we may conclude that, since character structure is the result of environment and the raw material (biosystem) upon which it works, the foundation for a particular biopathy or group of biopathies is laid in the uterus. Here, again, I should like to return to the problem of genetics. There is probably as much evidence for the existence and behavior of genes as there is for subatomic particles, e.g., nuclear physics and animal husbandry both work. Furthermore, there is a mass of cytochemical and morphologic data which irrefutably links genes to reproduction and development. Yet, since all structure in nature is ultimately derived from orgone energy, so must the genes. It is apparent from cytologic observations that chromosomal division and segregation in mitosis and meiosis are subject to a more fundamental order of regulation than is inherent in the genes themselves. We would point out, in this connection, the similarities between the orientation of iron filings in a magnetic field and the chromosomal disposition in the metaphase of mitosis. Thus, viewing the organism’s environment as beginning in the uterus, we can understand the familial epidemiology of the biopathies. It is interesting that, in this light, the previously abandoned idea of Lamarck, i.e., the inheritance of acquired characteristics, appears to have some basis in fact.      next page Page    1  2   of this article.