American College of Orgonomy

The American College of Orgonomy (A.C.O.) was formed as a nonprofit institution by Dr. Elsworth F. Baker in 1968. [cite book |title=Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich |last=Sharaf |first=Myron |year=1994 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=0306805758 |pages=pp. 480-481 ] The purpose of the College is to advance the scientific work in the science of orgonomy, originally developed by Dr. Wilhelm Reich.

The A.C.O. trains therapists and offers courses in the field of social orgonomy for teachers, social workers, as well as other fields of interest. Standards in the field of orgonomy are created and maintained by the college as well.

Wilhelm Reich was a prominent, though intensely controversial, psychiatrist from the circle around Sigmund Freud in Vienna. He fell from grace with Freud when he claimed a criterion for psychical health ("orgastic potency") and advanced psychoanalysis to "character analysis". Finally, in 1934, Freud engineered Reich's expulsion from the International Psychoanalytical Association. Reich advanced from character analysis to vegetotherapy, the prototype of later body psychotherapy. Simultaneously Reich did some experimentation into the "electrical function of sexuality and anxiety" and the origin of life. In 1940 he announced the discovery of orgone energy, the basis of orgonomy, which many members of mainstream psychiatry and the scientific community at large insist must be labeled as pseudo-science, with Henry Bauer accusing the college of perpetuating Reich's "latter-day megalomania". [cite book |title=Science or Pseudoscience: Magnetic Healing, Psychic Phenomena, and Other Heterodoxies |last=Bauer |first=Henry H. |year=2001 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=0252026012 |pages=p. 160 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=66oabFI9CFQC&pg=PA160&dq=%22American+College+of+Orgonomy%22&num=100&sig=ijhYRF0YkB8f4FtcCHhzTmRLazQ ] The interdisciplinary field of orgonomic studies encompasses several established disciplines, including biological, social, [cite journal |last=Hochberg |first=Louis |year=1997 |month=June |title= Wilhelm Reich in the alternative therapies and clinical social work |journal=Clinical Social Work Journal |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=99–107 |issn=1573-3343|url=http://www.springerlink.com/content/u6183462406325l4/ |accessdate= 2008-03-08 |doi= 10.1007/BF02144235 ] and environmental [cite book |title=Astrology And Your Health |last=Avery |first=Jeanne |year=2004 |publisher=Cosimo, Inc. |isbn=1931044775 |pages=p. 37 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=B8yk9F4QpaMC&pg=PA37&dq=%22American+College+of+Orgonomy%22&num=100&sig=a4pSv7HVxqgdh2K7b8a1cb8xQF8 ] sciences.

Orgone therapy, developed from vegetotherapy by Reich, did not rely on the use of drugs at all. Baker was a student and co-worker of Reich in the United States. In her book, "Orgone and You", Reich’s assistant, Lois Wyvell, explains how Reich asked Baker to carry the science of orgonomy forward in 1949.

Baker’s response to this challenge was to form the A.C.O. and to publish the Journal of Orgonomy in 1967 – a scientific publication devoted to advancing orgone science. The A.C.O. continues to publish the journal semiannually. [cite book |title=Introduction to Psychology |last=Morgan |first=Clifford Thomas |year=1986 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=0070432104 |pages=p. 715 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1GZUM-NU2xYC&q=%22American+College+of+Orgonomy%22&dq=%22American+College+of+Orgonomy%22&num=100&pgis=1] Baker also wrote a major textbook on orgone therapy, "Man In the Trap" [cite book |title=The Body in Psychotherapy |last=Smith |first=Edward W. L. |year=2000 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=0786409665 |pages=p. 14 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1rrlcR8u_2UC&pg=PA14&dq=%22American+College+of+Orgonomy%22&num=100&sig=LNBpBlNASS9xZrnK7MXMBDPd6Kw ] — wherein the word "orgone" does not appear.

The American College of Orgonomy is based in Princeton, NJ. They offer a major orgonomic conference every fall, and hold regional talks on various scientific topics. Members of the college teach related college courses and also present laboratory courses.

Training Programs

The College conducts a postgraduate medical orgonomy training program for qualified physicians and psychiatrists. Physicians who meet preset requirements can receive instruction in becoming orgone therapists. There are also courses offered for those interested in "social orgonomy".

Publications

Besides the "Journal of Orgonomy", the A.C.O. publishes books of orgonomic interest including Baker’s "Man In the Trap", "Me and the Orgone" by Orson Bean and recently also "Wilhelm Reich and Orgonomy" by Ola Raknes. The A.C.O. has also produced films about orgonomy, most notably, "Room For Happiness - an introduction to orgonomic therapy".

ee also

* Body Psychotherapy

References

External links

* [http://www.orgonomy.org The American College of Orgonomy]