Genitality in the Theory and Therapy of Neurosis

Genitality in the Theory and Therapy of Neurosis

Author	Wilhelm Reich
Original title	Die Funktion des Orgasmus: Zur Psychopathologie und zur Soziologie des Geschlechtslebens
Language	German
Subjects	Neurosis, orgasm, health
Publisher	Vienna: Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag
Publication date	1927
Media type	Print

Die Funktion des Orgasmus ("The Function of the Orgasm") is a monograph about the ability to achieve orgasm published in 1927 by Wilhelm Reich, later published in English as Genitality in the Theory and Therapy of Neurosis. In it, Reich proposed, based on his therapeutic experience and empirical studies, that orgastic potency should be used as a decisive criterion for mental health.

Neurotic disorder, according to Reich, was always based on a more or less pronounced "orgastic impotence". According to Reich, if a man were permanently unable to experience a "complete orgasm", it would cause a blockage of the libido, which would produce a variety of disorders. Reich saw the treatment goal of psychoanalytic treatment as the restoration of "orgastic potency". To achieve this objective, Reich further developed the psychoanalytic technique: first analysis of resistance, then Character Analysis, and finally, Vegetotherapy.