Character Analysis was written by Wilhelm Reich in 1933. Reich was a psychoanalyst and physician whose work today is of relevant significance in psychotherapy. Reich had, already in the early days, discovered problems therapists face with some patients in the therapeutic work. These problems come in the form of resistance to the analysis itself, and these manifest as major hindrances to the treatment.

I believe that it is because of these resistances (and the fact that many therapists today have not paid attention to the existence of these resistances), that some patients become rendered “un-therapieable” or untreatable. In today’s world the danger in considering patients not treatable by psychotherapy not only does injustice to the profession, but also to the patient, who ultimately become dependent on psychopharmaceuticals as their only sources of help. These drugs often come with side effects and do not help the patient return to full functionality.

Reich’s influence today can be seen in the work of Otto Kernberg, who explains to us about Transference Analysis.

Key Chapters

On the Technique of Interpretation and of Resistance Analysis

  • Typical errors in the technique of interpretation and their consequences
  • Systematic interpretation and resistance analysis
  • Consistency in resistance analysis

On the Technique of Character Analysis

  • Character armouring and character resistance
  • The inability to follow the basic rule
  • The technique of analysing the character resistance
  • The breaking down of the narcissistic defense apparatus

Theory of Character Formation

  • Content and form of psychic reactions
  • The function of character formation
  • Conditions of character differentiation

The Genital Character and the Neurotic Character

  • Character and sexual stasis
  • The libido-economic difference between the genital character and the neurotic character
  • Sublimation, reaction formation, and neurotic reaction basis

Bibliography

Reich, W. (1933/1945). Character Analysis (3rd ed.). (M. H. Raphael, Ed., & V. R. Carfagno, Trans.) New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.