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In the course of his [[clinical ]] [[work ]] in [[Vienna ]] (1924-1930) and then in Berlin (1930-1933), Wilhelm [[Reich ]] worked out his own techniques of [[psychoanalytic ]] [[practice ]] that emphasized the [[analysis ]] of [[resistances ]] and the [[structure ]] of the [[character]]. He made his techniques [[public ]] in his book, Character Analysis (1933/1945), his richest contribution to [[psychoanalysis]]. Character represents a [[stable]], more or less rigid, organization of the [[libidinal ]] [[economy ]] of the person; it is at the same [[time ]] submitted to the pressures of the [[drives ]] and to [[social ]] constraints, to gratifying or [[traumatic ]] experiences, and to the repetitions or defenses that they give rise to: "Character is in the first [[place ]] a [[mechanism ]] of [[narcissistic ]] protection."

The "character traits" that it brings together under the [[name ]] of "character armor " correspond to the mechanisms used by the person to deal with the [[repressed]]. Reich described two great poles of character, defined by their degree of "orgasmic potency" and the prevalence of various states of the [[libido]]: The [[genital ]] character, the Reichian [[ideal]], is distinguished by an orgasmic potency that reaches a [[true ]] plenitude, a flexible and free [[circulation ]] of libidinal [[energy]], and also by modes of relation to the [[self]], to [[others]], and to the [[world]], founded on a [[rational ]] approach that respects the [[reality ]] [[principle]]. The [[neurotic ]] character, conversely, suffers from a libidinal imbalance that gives primacy to [[repression ]] and [[negation ]] or, in [[other ]] cases, to impulsivity and an inability to [[master ]] the pressure of [[unconscious ]] impulses. In addition to these fundamental character types, Reich described "some well defined forms of character," such as the [[hysteric ]] character, dominated by ostentation and [[sexual ]] mobility; the compulsive character, where rigidity, retention, and [[obsession ]] for [[order ]] dominate; and the [[phallic]]-narcissistic character, [[structured ]] so as to resist the "[[anal ]] and [[passive]]-[[homosexual ]] impulses." For the masochistic character, Reich refers, through several [[individual ]] examples, to a [[cultural ]] [[form ]] marked by [[guilt ]] and the [[desire ]] for punishment—in short, the [[death ]] [[drive]], as the source of the tendency towards such deadly [[political ]] practices as [[fascism]].

Reich's broadening of character analysis included a [[third ]] part called "On the Psychoanalysis of the Biophysics of Orgone," in which Reich, linking "[[physical ]] contact" and "vegetative current," emphasized the [[role ]] of violent, elementary sensations such as the [[feeling ]] of "breakdown" and the "[[representation ]] of death." He proposed, on this basis, an original [[interpretation ]] of the "schizoid disintegration," by which certain [[symptoms ]] typical of schizophrenia—the "faraway stare," dissociation of the [[personality]], and catatonia—are presented in a clarifying and suggestive light. By inscribing his researches within a "[[language ]] expressive of [[life]]," [[Wilhelm Reich ]] committed himself to a vitalist [[vision ]] that shall see subsequent and more ample developments.

See also: Character; Character [[formation]]; Character [[neurosis]]; Reich, Wilhelm.

[[Bibliography]]