Curriculum Vitae



Richard Schwartzman, D.O.
P.O. Box 514
Solebury, PA 18963
(215) 862-9939

Curriculum Vitae


Premedical Education

Temple University School of Pharmacy, Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy 1957-1961

Medical Education

Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine 1962-1966

Internships

Botsford-Zieger Osteopathic Hospital 1966-1967: General Medicine

Philadelphia General Hospital 1969-1970: Psychiatry / Neurology

Psychiatric Residency Training

Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital 1971-1974

Fellowship Training

Forensic Psychiatry: Temple University School of Medicine, Department of Law and Psychiatry 1974‐1976

Medical and Psychiatric Practice

General Medical Practice 1967-1969

Forensic Psychiatric Practice 1977-2000

Psychiatric Orgone Therapy 1971 to present

Hospital Affiliations

Temple University School of Medicine 1976-1978

Hahnemann University: Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry 1978-2000

Hahnemann University: Medical Director of Psychiatric Services to the Philadelphia Prisons 1978-2000

Board Certifications

American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology 1976

State Medical Licenses

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 1967

New Jersey 2001

Psychiatric Orgone Therapy

The method of treatment I employ is much the same as pioneered and practiced by Wilhelmn Reich. My training was with Morton Herskowitz, D.O. and Elsworth F. Baker, M.D., themselves both students of Reich. During my association with the american College of Orgonomy I directed the Elsworth F. Baker Advanced Technical Training Seminar, supervised psychiatric orgone therapists and clinical psychologists in training, and was assistant editor of the Journal of Orgonomy. My theoretical and clinical articles of Reich's work have appeared in their journal as well as in other publications. I am a member of the training committee in The Greek Society of Psychiatric Orgone Therapy and Character Analysis. The training committee faculty are myself and Nassos Teopoulos, M.D., a board-certified psychiatrist and qualified psychiatric orgone therapist. I am also an honorary member of the Institute for Orgonomic Science. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am the Olivia in the article written by Dr. Schwartzman about spastic dysphonia. I did fully recover my voice and am able, as he predicted, even able to engage in public speaking without any anxiety at all. Although I still suffer occasionally from anxiety, I never suffered again from the dysphonia after being cured by Dr. Schwartzman. I am emotionally mature and much more secure about myself than I ever thought possible. I often think about Dr. Schwartzman and am grateful to have benefited from his compassionate and extremely skillful treatment.

January 30, 2017 at 8:24 AM

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Psychiatric Orgone Therapy

One of Wilhelm Reich’s most important and lasting contributions is a unique treatment for emotional disorders called psychiatric orgone therapy. Reich began as a psychoanalyst and was a member of Freud’s inner circle, but moved away from Freud’s method of free association when he developed a more effective verbal approach he called character analysis. Later he came to recognize the existence of a specific biologic energy in living organisms that he called “orgone,” which was coined from the word “organism.” With this discovery Reich was able to combine his verbal method with a technique that could normalize a person’s energy. The result was an entirely new approach to treating emotional disorders that he named orgone therapy.

Reich’s work with patients convinced him the disturbance in an individual’s energy state is caused by contractions in the body, especially in the musculature. He called these contractions “armor,” and established that they begin to develop in infancy as a way to block out emotionally painful events.

Past traumatic experiences are locked in the body--and they remain throughout life. How this happens is not fully understood, but there is no question that anxiety, anger and sadness, as well as the other upsetting feelings and emotions from childhood are not forgotten. Armor not only holds the disturbing past, causing it to remain alive but out of consciousness awareness, but it also affects how one feels and functions. Because living a natural healthy life depends upon whether a person’s energy flows freely or is blocked, the aim of psychiatric orgone therapy is to free up energy by breaking down armor. As these areas of holding dissolve, patients release their long buried feelings and emotions in the safety of the therapist’s office. They most usually surface spontaneously with the specific method Reich innovated, without the need of urging or any intervention on the part of the treating psychiatrist. However, occasionally, pressure needs to be applied to spastic muscles, or other techniques used to normalize the body. Because this treatment combines a verbal approach with a physical technique, it addresses both the mind and the body to bring about profound changes in how one thinks, feels and functions.

Today almost all people seeking treatment from a psychiatrist are given medications to reduce their symptoms. However, with psychiatric orgone therapy it is usual that patients, over time, find themselves able to wean themselves off medication and function without pharmacologic treatment. Reich’s therapy is unique in that it not only relieves distressing symptoms, but also does much more. It enables individuals to expand and feel pleasure, and better enjoy the many satisfactions life has to offer.

There are people who claim to practice some form of “Reichian” or “orgone” therapy, even though they have had no formal training in medicine or psychology. Often the techniques used by these self-proclaimed therapists have little or nothing to do with the very specific methods Reich developed and taught. The value of such therapies is questionable and may even harm those who get involved in them.

Qualified psychiatric orgone therapists have extensive training. They are physicians who have gone on to specialize in psychiatry and then in the very unique subspecialty of orgone therapy. They practice in much the same way as Reich did more than a half century ago. Ph.D. Psychologists who have had proper training can practice a form of orgone therapy safely and effectively. However, it is crucial they have supervision by a qualified psychiatric orgone therapist.