Is it true that psychologist Wilhelm Reich was jailed for inventing an effective cure for cancer?

A story is spreading on social networks about an American psychologist of Austrian origin, Wilhelm Reich, who invented a device that can cure many diseases. However, officials did not like his device and they banned it, and the scientist was sentenced to prison, during which he died. We decided to check whether this story actually happened.

Information about Reich and his invention is spread mainly on social networks. You can find her on Facebook* (page "Slavic-Aryan Vedas», 51,000 subscribers; "Interesting things nearby», 2000 subscribers), “VKontakte” (“World connection point», 35,000 subscribers), "Zene», A Also on entertaining forums. Reportedthat the invented device could cure not only cancer, but also “heart disease, arthritis and thousands of other ailments in just a few 15-minute sessions.” Book under name "Discovery of Orgone. Biopathy of Cancer" by Wilhelm Reich for sale in Russian in many bookstores.

Wilhelm Reich was born in 1897 in the village of Dobryanichi (then Austria-Hungary, the territory of the modern Lviv region). As a student at the University of Vienna, Reich sought to combine the concepts of Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx. In 1939, the scientist left Europe, accepting an invitation from the New School for Social Research (New York). There, Reich developed research into bioenergy, in particular, he made a statement that he had discovered the energy of life, which he called orgonic or orgone. In this theory, Reich combined elements of Freudianism with Chinese philosophy and medicine. 

According to beliefs Reich, the Universe consists of bions - microscopic units of orgone in the form of energy bubbles, occupying an intermediate state between living and non-living organisms. It was precisely the lack of orgone, as well as sexual disappointment, that Reich explained the occurrence of cancer in Sigmund Freud. Although Reich's orgone theory appeared in Europe, it was in the USA that he developed it and was also able to commercialize it by building an orgone accumulator. His device looked like a cabinet the size of a telephone booth, made of wood and lined with layers of sheep's wool. 

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According to Reich, this design ensured the absorption of orgonic energy from space and its concentration necessary for therapeutic effects. Besides cancer, like believed scientist, such a device will be able to heal mental illness, radiation sickness, anemia, burns and other pathologies.

Confident in the scientific nature of his discovery, Reich even asked Albert Einstein to test his invention. Reich later described his meeting with the great physicist: “When I told him in conclusion that people thought I was crazy, his answer was: “I can believe it.” Nevertheless, Einstein agreed to study the orgonal accumulator in more detail. After two weeks of research, the physicist came to the conclusion that the principle stated by Reich does not work. But this did not stop Reich, and he decided to produce his batteries for mass use. His invention enjoyed Jerome David Salinger, Paul Goodman, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Dwight MacDonald and William Burroughs.

In the 1950s, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) turned its attention to the orgonal battery, and in 1954 achieved injunction against the device. In addition to the device, Reich’s books, which promoted his basic ideas, in particular “Mass Psychology of Fascism,” were also banned. The books were ordered to be destroyed. Reich and his supporters were also prohibited from producing, selling, or otherwise distributing other batteries. At the same time, the FDA was not at all trying to hide something from the general public: the reason for the injunction served that the information about the device was “false or misleading.” 

Reich did not conduct double-blind, placebo-controlled studies with his invention, recognized as the standard of evidence-based medicine. Later studies published in the Journal of Orgone also didn't show the effectiveness of his device. In experiments on mice with tumors, better survival was demonstrated either by the group exposed to orgone or by the control group. There is now a scientific consensus that the idea of ​​orgone applies to pseudoscientific theories.

At the same time, despite the injunction, Reich continued distribute your battery. Because of this, another case was brought against him - for contempt of court. His sentenced to two years in prison. On November 3, 1957, Reich died of a heart attack at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary, eight months after his sentencing and just days before his parole hearing. During the second trial, a psychiatric examination noted the paranoid nature of his ideas. At the same time, Reich statedthat was attacked by a UFO.

Thus, scientist Wilhelm Reich did not discover a cure for cancer, and the FDA did not seek to ban this discovery. The orgone idea is a pseudoscientific theory, and the Food and Drug Administration was only trying to limit the distribution of a device that didn't work.

*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Instagram, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Cover image: The Guardian

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