On The Technique Of Medical Orgone Therapy, Part II How To Start Treatment
From Volume 57 Number 1
Alberto Foglia, M.D.
Editor’s Note: In this article Dr. Foglia outlines how he introduces patients to his practice of medical orgone therapy, specifically how he introduces them to what is for some a new and unknown therapeutic technique. Other clinical articles in this issue of the Journal as well as many articles in previous issues show varying ways of proceeding with medical orgone therapy treatment. The salient point is that this unique treatment is based on emotional-energetic contact and is not a mechanical process.
Howard J. Chavis, M.D.
Introduction
This article describes the author’s technique for beginning medical orgone therapy with patients of varying ages. First presented are examples of the treatment of infants. Infants, of course, do not yet utilize language as do older children or adults nor do they have the capacity to abstract. The article then proceeds to detail this technique’s utility in several young children, a teenager, and finally an adult.
How To Start Treatment With Infants and Little Children1
I always see children on the couch with one parent sitting on a nearby chair and, following the rules listed by Baker (Baker, pages 313–314), I ask mothers about the chief complaint, pregnancy, delivery, birth, the behavior of the child, his bowel function, sleep, feeding habits, and mother’s well-being and/or difficulties during the pregnancy and after to the present. I ask the parent, usually and preferably the mother, because of her intimate biological function in the child’s life, to undress the child and put him on the couch. As with adults every moment is rich in salient observations, and the beginning can be very instructive. For example, disturbed children cannot stand the anxiety of being put on the couch in the presence of the therapist, an unknown adult, and they either fight back or are scared or become aggressive. The reaction of the parent to their child’s behaviors is indicative of the relationship between the child and the parent.
If this “tool,” the procedure of putting the child on the couch, is not problematic, I examine the child following the rules listed by Baker for the clinical examination: observe the general appearance, the eyes, the skin, the position of the body, jaw, mouth, chest and pelvis. Apart from gaining important clues, the initial examination helps me to begin to make contact with the child. Usually in the absence of disturbances infant show a central attitude: trust, which is accompanied by curiosity and interest, all of which is a function of and speaks to the presence of contact. This trust of small children is very moving, very touching.
Clinical Examples
Case 1
The mother, a patient of mine, reported these complaints about her 3-month-old boy, Peter: arc de cercle, constipation, poor eater. At his first session he was placed on the couch and immediately showed reticence, anxiety and a tendency to whine. By proceeding as described above, Peter cried and because the crying was whining and held, I gently pressed on his masseters and pulled his chin down, which infuriated him with consequent strong yelling and crying. After the first session, mother told me that Peter had never cried so fully. I paid close attention to what appeared to be oral repressed traits, evident in his very difficult eating function. In subsequent sessions his oral block softened but it never disappeared. I was also amazed to observe his rigid spine and the “arc de cercle,” which were exactly like those of his father, also a patient of mine: Is this the genetic transmission of armor?
Case 2
Anna is 5 months old. Her mother, a patient of mine since 1990, wanted me to see the child to be reassured that Anna was doing well. Anna was conceived using artificial insemination and her 54-year-old mother underwent a Caesarean section one month before full-term. Despite these difficult initial circumstances Anna seemed to have grown well, was a lively and happy girl and her mother loved her deeply. Anna allowed her mother to put her on the couch without problems. The child was curious, looked at me intensely and didn’t seem upset, scared or annoyed. I followed the rules of Dr. Baker and found nothing relevant. After having made contact with her I saw and felt the typical attitude of armor-free newborns: trust.
After 3 months Anna returned to me and surprisingly she was no longer willing to lie down on the couch. She screamed and yelled but her voice was held in her throat. It was harsh and impeded: a throat block. After several sessions of yelling and crying, however, Anna liberated her throat and continued to do well.
I don’t know where her throat block came from, in fact I was more surprised that she was so free of armor at first contact, considering her traumatic birth and the artificial mechanical fertilization, whose consequences are unknown. One thing, however, is clear. Anna’s mother worked with me for decades because of her severe throat block. I have no doubt that infants pick up character and muscular traits of anybody around them, especially caring adults.