Medical orgone therapy is a unique mind-body method of treating emotional illnesses, and it has also proven valuable in relieving certain physical conditions. The treatment incorporates a verbal aspect, character analysis, combined with a physical approach, one that facilitates the release of repressed emotions. Sadness and anger are two examples of emotions that can surface in the course of a session. Feelings that arise are allowed expression, and they are always under the control of the treating psychiatrist. The emotions that come up may be the result of current stressful life situations, but more often they lie deeper, having been trapped in the body since childhood, out of any conscious awareness.

With the removal of armor, as Reich came to call the contractions that formed early on to repress feelings, an overall sense of confidence and wellbeing develops. Freeing the body of both its held in emotions and physical holdings brings about better contact with self, others and the environment.

Character analysis, the talking aspect of the treatment, has its own specific techniques. They should not be confused with positive affirmations, guided self-examination, cognitive therapy, or other psychological approaches. Rather, the focus is on specific attitudes characteristic of that individual. Examples are the “brave, strong boy” who never shows fear or sadness, or the “nice little girl” who must please everyone. Such defensive reactions were adopted early in life when they were necessary for survival in a neurotic family setting, but carried into adulthood they impair all aspects of natural, healthy functioning.

The physical aspect of the therapy – wherein long held back feelings and emotions spontaneously rise to the surface – is promoted by breathing that is natural and unforced and never done in a controlled fashion, as with meditation or yoga. The physical work also requires, from time to time, direct pressure on specific spastic muscles, the ones that are inhibiting the release of feelings. Character analysis combined with the physical treatment brings about a restructuring that is both mental and physical, that is, it addresses both the psyche and soma. Because the therapy has a significant physical component it is necessary that it only be conducted by physicians with extensive psychiatric experience.

Bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and ADHD are some of the more common conditions that have responded well to medical orgone therapy. While treatment is most often sought for emotional problems, it is not uncommon to see, as armor softens, physical conditions such as headache, neck and jaw pain, palpitations and asthma relieved.

This method of treatment -- with its theory of armoring caused by blocked biological energy --stands apart from current psychiatric treatment. Modern medicine holds that “chemical imbalances” are the cause of disease, and therefore the approach must lie with correcting the body’s chemistry.

The medical orgonomist, on the other hand, believes that armoring is the source of the chemical and even many physical changes, and until this underpinning is addressed one can only be “hacking at the branches” and not at the root of the problem.

Psychopharmacology, which dominates psychiatric treatment worldwide, strives to eliminate symptoms, but medications with their adverse effects have never proven able to eliminate the underlying cause of emotional illness.

It is unfortunate that the energetic theory of armoring continues to be dismissed as pure mysticism, in spite of the fact that there is extensive documentation for this premise and a solid scientific basis for the principle.

Medical orgone therapy has a diametrically opposed approach. It endeavors to do away with medication and not infrequently this goal can be achieved. As medication is reduced the patient feels more alive and as the therapy progresses there is a decrease in symptoms. These changes, in turn, bring about feelings of expansion and the capacity for deep, tender love. The goal of treatment, while certainly not always reached, is to regularly experience a fully gratifying orgasm. With this complete discharge one maintains an optimal level of health.

Reich's theories as to the relationship between emotions, physical disease and sexual functioning remain controversial. It is hoped that the broader scientific community will subject this unique treatment approach -and the energy theory that underlies it - to impartial, objective evaluation.