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Editorial: On the Treatment
Charles Konia, M.D.
Reprinted from the Journal of Orgonomy, Vol. 28 No. 2
The American College of Orgonomy

The traditional psychiatrist and the medical orgonomist both strive to improve the functioning of their patients. The traditional psychiatrist, however, does not understand or is unaware of energetic functioning specifically the bioenergetic basis of pleasure and the sexual function, and anxiety. Sexual and the antithetical relationship between sexuality and anxiety. Sexuality and anxiety are both manifestations of energetic excitation, although in opposite directions from the core to the periphery in sexuality and from the periphery to the core in anxiety. Because the traditional psychiatrist does not recognize bioenergetic functions in general and the bioenergetic significance of anxiety in particular, he does his best to eliminate anxiety with medication.

In contrast, the medical orgonomist recognizes emotional expression as a primary manifestation of an organism's life energy. When characterological and biophysical interventions are properly applied the patient's energy is mobilized and armor is partially dissolved. The first emotions that are usually experienced by the patient are anxiety and rage. The increase in anxiety that accompanies the breakdown of armor can vary in intensity from mild discomfort to full-blown panic. Unless the patient and the therapist are prepared for increasing intensities of emotional expression the therapeutic process will not move forward. Thus an essential prerequisite for therapy to proceed smoothly and to be guided successfully is the therapist's capacity to tolerate the full range of emotional expression as the patient restructures biophysically. This capacity, indicative of a sufficient degree of health, is attained through the therapist’s own personal restructuring. In sum, in addition to formal training in medical orgonomy, the characterological and biophysical qualifications of the trained medical orgonomist provide the therapist with the ability to responsibly eliminate armor in a manner that allows for sustained clinical improvement.

In contrast to the medical orgonomist are those "Reichians," "Body Therapists," "Rebirthers," "Short-term Therapists," etc., without the necessary structural makeup, who treat patients without a thorough knowledge of the function of armor (both characterological and muscular) or how to remove it in a systematic way that is biophysically tolerable. Unfortunately, if all these criteria are not met, there is a danger that great harm can be done.

Psychoanalytically and pharmacologically-oriented psychiatrists are also biophysically unprepared to manage the intense emotions and the increased anxiety of the distressed patient. They are also without the necessary orgonomic knowledge that enables rational understanding and management of emotional disturbance. Consequently, the only responsible and rational choice for these practitioners is to attack the patient's disturbing symptom with the tools they have available. The psychoanalyst, without a bioenergetic understanding of character, character defenses, and character-analysis, addresses the patient's anxiety by increasing intellectual functioning through self-reflection to bring about psychological understanding, the analytic process. The brain's capacity as a powerful storehouse of energy, in the form of defensive ideation, is utilized. The biologically-oriented psychiatrist prescribes anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) medication. In both cases, full therapeutic emotional expression is discouraged and clinical "improvement" is measured by a reduction in anxiety.

This issue of the Journal contains clinical case material illustrating the treatment of anxiety and other emotional disturbances with medical orgone therapy. Encouraging patients to tolerate and express the emotions that underlie their anxiety relieves them of the disabling effects of armor and results in dramatic improvement. This is a curative process. Such treatment with its ability to reestablish health is entirely unknown in traditional psychiatry.

The American College of Orgonomy has set the highest standards for the training of medical orgonomists. Biophysical restructuring is the cornerstone of the training program. This is an essential prerequisite to achieve the greatest beneficial effects of orgone therapy for every patient.


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