On Masochism

Drawings of Masochistic Character structure in child and adult, by Marianne Bentzen

A discussion of the Reichian character structure of masochism from the perspective of the founder of Biodynamic Therapy, Gerda Boyesen.

The biodynamic approach sees the person, as a person, with love. I am trained as a spiritual director as well as a biodynamic massage therapist, and the training for each is similar. Both are work of true accompaniment and deep-seeing insight into the true being of the person, in the light of the Divine. Biodynamic therapy looks for the life of the person, their true self. This is the place where the person would be without their character armour.* 

Wilhelm Reich, in his book Character Analysis (1933), laid out some classifications for how the human body tends to adapt itself to life experiences, interesting to biodynamic practitioners. Reich sees character armour developing with trauma and circumstance. Like a harsh relentless wind or lack of sunlight bending a tree to a different direction, the body shapes itself by the forces applied to it.

Startle reflex, when it isn’t fully released from the body, causes the body to move and grow in restricted directions. ​A child hearing their parents arguing and shouting at her will bring up her shoulders in shock so many times that the shoulder tension gradually stops releasing itself and the body changes its shape in line with the tension. 
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In the following, I discuss Gerda Boyesen’s article, “Masochism and Masochistic Energy — an Insight” (published 1982 in the Journal of Biodynamic Psychology, Volume 2).** I discuss “masochism”, the development of a masochist character structure from a biodynamic perspective, where it comes from, and how the body takes it on. I go on to discuss the extension, or development, of the definition of the "Masochist Character" that Gerda makes.

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