We also find a focus in Reich’s work on the armor itself. The armor is being oiled and perhaps beat upon. The armor is also being studied by the analyst and patient. Why was the armor worn in the first place and why is it still being worn. Are there imaginary lions against which the armor is supposed to protect. Is there a “good” (though irrational) reason to remain standing in place fully clad—and frozen–in armor? Given the armor and frozen posture, what damage is being done to the heart of the Tin Man and analytic patient.
I turn again to the words offered by Reich (1972, p. 48):
Whereas the symptom corresponds solely to one definite experience or one circumscribed desire, the character, i.e., the person’s specific mode of existence, represents an expression of the person’s entire past. So a symptom can emerge quite suddenly, while the development of each individual character trait requires many years. We must also bear in mind that the symptom could not have suddenly emerged unless a neurotic reaction basis already existed in the character.
Reich is clearly suggesting that the armor has usually been in place since his patient was a child. Thus, the imaginary lions were first threatening early in life. The lions often appeared as threatening parents or as unsupportive environments in which the powerless child was forced to live. As a psychoanalyst, Reich (1972, p. 48) is also pointing to the powerful role played by libidinal urges—which the child will find to be just as threatening as any external “lions”:
In the analysis, the neurotic character traits as a whole prove to be a compact defense mechanism against our therapeutic efforts, and when we trace the origin of this character “armor” analytically, we see that it also has a definite economic function. Such armor serves on the one hand as a defense against external stimuli; on the other hand it proves to be a means of gaining mastery over the libido, which is continuously pushing forward from the id, because libidinal and sadistic energy is used up in the neurotic reaction formations, compensations, etc.
Reich believes that Anxiety is continually being bound by the armor. While Sapolsky would probably suggest that the Anxiety produces a Frozen condition, Reich is more inclined to reverse the order. For Reich, the armor comes first and then the Anxiety. The state of Anxiety is Frozen in place and returns the favor by keeping the armor in place. Reich points to the similar dynamic operating in Freud’s initial theory. For Freud, anxiety is bound up in what he calls the “compulsive symptoms.”
Using the Transference
Reich (1972, pp. 127-128) notes that Freud has identified three tasks (or stages) associated with work on a patient’s transference. There is first the establishment of durable positive transference. Reich agrees with Freud that a patient must establish a trusting and appreciative relationship with their therapist if the therapy is to work. This movement beyond Ego-based building of trust that should be taking place during the first sessions of therapy. The transference now has a less rational side to it. AS Freud noted, this second stage of transference is used by the therapist to move beyond the resistance to the therapeutic work on the underlying neurotic symptoms.
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