Wilhelm Reich is the creator of body-oriented therapy.
Reich believed that the mechanisms of psychological defense and the protective behavior associated with them contribute to the formation of a “muscle shell” (or “armor of character”), expressed in unnatural tension of various muscle groups, shortness of breath, etc. Psychological defense mechanisms can be resisted by modifying the bodily state and impact on the stressed area. Reich developed techniques to reduce chronic tension in each muscle group; with the help of physical influence, he sought to release repressed emotions. Muscle massage is used to encourage emotional release. The patient is touched, using pinching and pressing motions to help him break the shell, moving down the body, reaching the last circle of the shell, located at the level of the pelvis.
Reich’s body-oriented therapy is largely based on his theory of organ energy. Reich viewed pleasure as the free movement of energy from the core of the organism to the periphery and to the outside world; anxiety is a distraction of energy from contact with the outside world, returning it inside. Reich eventually came to think of therapy as restoring the free flow of energy through the body by systematically releasing blocks from the muscular shell. In his opinion, these blocks (muscle clamps) serve to distort and destroy natural feeling, in particular, the suppression of sexual feelings.