Wilhelm Reich Lecture Series:
Sponsored by The Traditional Naturopathic Student Association:
National College of Naturopathic Medicine (NCNM).
2010 Series:
Lecture 1: Self-Regulation and Attachment--Understanding the Emotional Life of Children
This lecture will be an exploration of two theories of emotional regulation that are both consistent with Naturopathic philosophy and also valuable in their further explication of the emotional life of children. The emotions of anger, frustration, sadness, and apathy, often felt and sometimes expressed by children, are important to understand in the context of attachment and self-regulation so that we as physicians can educate our patients and help to bring their family life into greater health.
Attachment theory, born out of the observations and research of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, brought a tremendous amount of attention and respect to the mother-child relationship. The patterns of secure or insecure attachment and the various stages of detachment play a profound role in the development of children and adult life. The discoveries of Wilhelm Reich further elucidate the dynamics of the emotional regulation that occurs between parent and child and help ground attachment theory in a bio-energetic and functional basis consistent with the neo-vitalist tradition of Naturopathic medicine. Come join us as these two theoretical stances and their implications for medical practice are presented and discussed.
2008 Series:
Lecture 1: Body Language
Patient non-verbal and extra-verbal communication can be a valuable source of information for assessment and a gateway into exploring the deepest layers of illness. Understanding the patients’ body language can help to build a greater psycho-emotional-physiologic picture of the patient, aiding in the naturopathic decree to treat the CAUSE and THE WHOLE PERSON. This lecture will discuss basic concepts for interpreting patient body language, and Reich’s unique approach to understanding and treating this “character structure.”
Lecture 2: Resistance to "Cure": Why some Patients Appear Unable and Unwilling to Get Better?
This lecture digs into the very roots of the Naturopathic Philosophy and Principles.All of our therapies depend not just on the biochemical interactions of the substances we give them, but on the emotional/physical/spiritual factors that make up the WHOLE PERSON.At the root of DOCERE is the idea that we must teach the patient how to take RESPONSIBILITY for their own health.But just as you can’t tell someone to JUST RELAX, taking RESPONSIBILITY requires that the patient have a level of connection with themselves and the world around them.This lecture will explore Reich’s theories about how/why psycho/emotional/physical factors can lead a patient to resist getting better.Whereas Freud attributed this phenomenon to a “death instinct”, Reich and Naturopathy share the view that nature can heal itself, given the opportunity and circumstances.
Lecture 3: The Emotional Body (Mind)
In Naturopathic medicine, emotions are thought of as important aspects of optimal health.Unfortunately our training does not enable us to understand the process of an emotional experience and how that effects or is effected by tensions in the body or respiratory patterns.Reich understood emotions to be functionally identical to the movement of energy (Bioenergy) within an organism.The ability of an organism to tolerate and express emotion (bioenergetic movement and excitation) has profound implications for the circulation of blood, the storage of toxins, the function of organs, and the presence of chronic musculoskeletal pain and tension.This is in addition to the classic symptoms that we are familiar with such as anxiety, depression, and other so called psychological disorders.In the third lecture in this series, we will conclude our discussion of body language, resistance, and the doctor-patient relationship by exploring the anatomy of emotional experience and its implications for Naturopathic practice.
2009 Series:
Lecture I: The Function of the Orgasm: An Exploration of Sexuality and Health
During his lifetime, Wilhelm Reich's scientific explanation of the natural function of sexuality in human life led to him being chased out of two countries, and eventually jailed and his books burned in a third. Fifty-one years later sexuality continues to be taboo, even within our medical education where it is not given any serious attention. How could something so essential to life and health be ignored?
We speak of the function of breathing, of peristalsis, or other physiological aspects of our life. What is the function of an orgasm? What expressive movements are seen in an orgasm, and what is being expressed in these movements? How is the orgasm expressed in other species, or in other living and non-living natural phenomenon? How are the life function and the sexual function related? What is sexuality? These and other questions will be explored, and discussion encouraged.