Charles Konia, M.D.

Charles Konia, M.D.
Reprinted from the Journal of Orgonomy, Vol. 39 No. 1
The American College of Orgonomy

Central to Reich’s orgasm theory is that all biopathic illnesses are based on a disturbance in the orgasm function, the regulator of the energy economy of the organism.2  According to this theory, all biopathic signs and symptoms would be eliminated if the capacity for full orgastic discharge were re-established either during the course or fol- lowing the completion of orgone therapy.

The following case of migraine, a somatic biopathy involving the ocular segment, illustrates some of the clinical features in the treatment of this disorder and, in particular, the disappearance of the biopathic symptom when the patient was able to experience satisfying genital discharge.

Pathogenesis
As with all diseases of biopathic origin, the pathogenesis of migraine is obscure to mechanistic medicine. Medical orgonomy, however, has identified the two specific bioenergetic factors involved in the pathogenesis of migraine. The first is significant armor of the ocular (including the brain) and oral segments. The second is hypersensitivity of the vasculature of the ocular segment to sympatheticotonia, with reactive parasympatheticotonia.3  There are two physiological correlates to the increased vascular sus- ceptibility to sympatheticotonia:

• Biochemical: the release of serotonin, a powerful vasoconstrictor, from platelets into the plasma.

• Cellular: the increased aggregability of platelets within the contracted vasculature.

The vascular changes involve both the intracranial and extracra- nial arteries and arterioles. There are two phases to the attack: 1) initial vasoconstriction, producing cerebral ischema and symptoms of aura (sympatheticotonia) followed by 2) vasodilation with sterile inflammation and edema, producing headache with scalp tenderness during the post-headache phase (reactive parasympatheticotonia).

Physical and chemical stimuli, such as bright light and certain foods, can trigger a migraine attack. However, these are risk factors and not the source of the condition, as they can only bring about an attack in individuals prone to migraine. The occurrence of the attack in women during ovulation or before menstruation has led to the mis- conception that hormonal factors are the causative agent.4  Mechanistic medicine has identified dozens of risk factors for migraine but the condition, as with all biopathies, has underlying bioenergetic factors that are not recognized. The migraine attack is precipitated by the occurrence of dramatic, forceful, emotional charges that, because of armor, are intolerable and cannot be expressed. As a result, energy becomes trapped and is discharged in the brain and its vascular supply giving rise to the migraine symptom complex.

Case presentation
This twenty-two-year-old, single, white accountant resumed her therapy after her previous therapist moved to the West Coast. Her reasons for needing therapy was continued anxiety and depression, although these symptoms were not as severe as when she first sought therapy. She also complained of not functioning up to her potential in her work, feeling insecure in her financial situation and becoming “spacey,” especially when she was with people who were themselves “out of touch.”

She was in good health except for having severe migraine headaches that occurred approximately three times a year. These headaches, which started at menarche, usually began with a scintillating scotoma (blind spot) and progressed to nausea and/or left-sided headache with occasional numbness in the left arm. She only took aspirin, which mainly affected the blind spot in her visual field by bringing it “down.” This part of the attack was accompanied by anxiety, sometimes to the point of panic. The change from a visual blind spot to headache was experienced with relief because it was at this point that her anxiety began to subside. Sometimes crying brought relief. The only common factor for her migrainous attacks was a state of intense emotion.

Family history revealed that her father was a passive, ineffectual individual who rarely displayed affection while her mother, who was irrational and intrusive, regularly interfered with the relationship she sought with her father.

She felt insecure and expressed fear of being abandoned by her boyfriend stating that the frequency of migraine attacks had increased during the past several months, ever since she began working apart from him.

Biophysical examination revealed an attractive, lively but fright- ened, young woman. At different times her eyes appeared bright or dull and suspicious. Her contact with me was good and she spoke through a tightly clenched jaw. There was mild acne on the left side of her face and the skin of the face, neck and chest had patches of hyperemia, indi- cating vasomotor instability. This occurred especially when she became emotionally excited. On the couch, breathing resulted in immediate, generalized trembling with appearance of the orgasm reflex.5 This gave way to anger accompanied by pain over the left occiput. Her central problem was distrust. Looking at me triggered it, followed by rage, then crying. My diagnosis of her was paranoid schizophrenia.

Her first dream in therapy was the following: She is with me in the woods and wants me to approach her sexually, but I don’t. We go into my house and, to her surprise, my wife is not at all threatened to see us together. She thinks that she could never be that way. The dream expressed two opposing tendencies, that she wants to trust me and also that she does not. In fact, looking at me in session produced strong feelings of reassurance which suddenly turned into intense distrust.

She reported feeling a distinct separation between the left and right sides of her body. The left side felt weak, helpless, and “dead” and this side was associated with her migraine attacks. In contrast, her right side felt strong and capable. This subjective sense was confirmed by my observation that her right side was more developed than her left. She remembered cutting off her feelings from her left side when she stopped opposing her mother’s interference with her sexuality around four years of age, becoming an obedient, good child. Her fight against her mother was an attempt to defend herself from being destroyed emotionally.

It was when her left side began to relax its armor and soften in therapy that she became aware of the battle between her two sides. As a result, she began reaching out despite opposition from her right side.

She identified her parents with these opposing sides within herself. She was reaching out for her father from her left (feminine) side while her mother opposed it from her right side.

With continued softening, impulses of murderous rage surfaced, which brought about both increased sensations on the left side and pelvic sensations. These sensations led to a contraction of her ocular segment accompanied by disorganized, chaotic dreams and thoughts of worthlessness.

More sadistic rage directed at her mother for interfering with her life was followed by rage toward her father for not responding to her love. She felt miserable and cheated by both parents.

Following these feelings, she had a right-sided migraine preceded by a fluttering and blindness in the left eye. Expressing rage cleared the flutter which was actually more distressing to her than the headache. She appeared miserable, but gagging, which was followed by deep sobbing from her abdomen, provided some relief.

She had the following dream: She is with her parents near a body of water. She loses her dog and asks her mother where it is. Mother responds by telling her that her father drowned it. She is furious with him. The dream expressed her mistrust of her mother for twisting her feelings for her father. She stated that she felt tricked and cheated by her mother all of her life.

More deep sobbing and misery originating from her abdomen poured out, especially from the left side. She had alternating feelings of increased trust and of being tortured and abandoned. Her feelings of being left resulted in her behaving like a little girl. When this was pointed out to her, she felt a violent rage which resulted in more independent behavior, both in general as well as in relation to her boyfriend. She appeared less hunched over and frightened. She began having sweet melting sensations in her pelvis which at first were hard to tolerate.

It became easier for her to express rage in a sustained manner at her mother for crippling her emotionally. This brought on a migraine attack which she was able to abort by gagging and expressing her misery.

At this point in her therapy, she had a dream in which her mother is married to a man who is not her father. In the dream she says she would be well if she could only look directly at her father. The dream revealed the wish to have contact with her father and points to the armoring in her ocular segment.

In her daily life, she alternated between feeling well and overwhelmed by the intensity of her misery and her rages, especially when premenstrual. When her eyes were clear she felt a sense of well-being but they could quickly pull back and show distrust and anger. “I dare you to get close to me!” was the look she expressed.

With continued release of rage from her left side and especially from her left eye, both sides of her body became more integrated. As her ocular segment opened, she felt a deep sense of relief and enjoyed using her mind in solving everyday problems. The symptoms related to a lateralization of her ocular armor continued to surface as progressively deeper layers were uncovered. Each layer contained contradictory impulses.

Continued …

To read the full case history, please reference the Journal of Orgonomy Vol. 39, No.1.

1 For a discussion of migraine, see Dew, R.A. 1974. The Biopathic Diathesis (VIII): Headache. Journal of Orgonomy 8:143-154, and republished in this issue of the Journal.

2 A biopathy is a disturbance of the plasmatic system (which consists of the autonomic nervous system and the vascular system) resulting from the presence of armor.

3 According to Dew, the basic manner in which the organism reacts against sympatheticotonia is a determining factor in biopathic development.

4 Since the endocrine system is part of the vascular system, it is considered a component of the plasmatic system.

5 The appearance of the orgasm reflex at the onset of therapy was not alarming since she had therapy from a qualified medical orgonomist who spent a great deal of time on her ocular segment. Her therapy was, therefore, progressing in a lawful manner.

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