Adventures in the Orgasmatron: Wilhelm Reich and the Invention of Sex. Christopher Turner

his demand that the regulation of our sex life by morality should be replaced by the rhythm of self-regulation.”⁶² In other words, the orgasm was a homeostatic valve through which steam had to be regularly let off. Perls also considered Reich’s technique of concentrating on the patient’s character armor a great therapeutic innovation, but (without saying in the book that he himself had been a patient) he disapproved of the “mocking and even bullying” Reich used to break down resistances. He criticized Reich for “making the patient swallow ideas which he cannot digest.”⁶³