The Freakiest Psychologist You’ve Never Heard Of (It’s Not Freud!)
The early days of psychoanalysis are often imagined as a deeply sexual, dark and taboo period in the study of psychology. Many may look at Freud’s obsession with mother loving for example. However, one character remains fairly unknown despite the fact that he is likely the freakiest psychoanalyst in the history of the field: Wilhelm Reich.
LIFE
Born on a cattle farm in Austria-Hungary in 1897, Reich’s father was a strict man who prohibited his kids from learning Yiddish or speaking anything other than German. Perhaps due to child abuse, Reich would begin to write extensively about his sexual experiences. He would recount in detail the time he attempted to sleep with the family maid at the age of 4, how he would watch the animals in moments of pleasure, how he would pleasure himself while whipping the horses, how he would sleep with one of the servants almost daily and from the age of 11 and that he would frequently visit brothels starting at the age of 15. He also described the deep erotic fantasies he developed for his mother.
His mother would play a crucial role in Reich’s life. He became increasingly aware of his mother’s affair with the tutor and would stay outside of her bedroom every night they were together. One day he decided to tell his father of his mother’s betrayal…
