Vegetotherapy

Vegetotherapy is a form of psychoanalytical therapy which involves the physical simulation of emotions. Vegetotherapy was developed as an element of Wilhelm Reich's psychological analysis of human sexuality developed in the early twentieth century.

The practice of vegetotherapy involves the analyst asking the patient to physically simulate the bodily effects of strong emotions. This simulation causes the patient to experience the emotions simulated, thus releasing emotions pent up inside both the body and the psyche. The catharsis of emotive expression breaks down the cathexis of stored emotions. While experiencing a simulated emotional state, the patient may reflect on past experiences which should have caused that emotion, but where the emotion has not been fully resolved. These emotions are described as stored emotions, and in Reichian analysis are seen as manifesting in the body. Vegetotherapy relies of a theory of stored emotions, or affects, where emotions build tensions in the structure of the body. This tension can be seen in posture, facial expression or muscular stress.

Examples of vegetotherapy from the late 1960s, and interviews with analysts and patients who have undergone vegetotherapy, can be seen in the film WR: Mysteries of the Organism.