Ola Raknes - A Notable Figure in Public Discourse

A Notable Figure in Public Discourse

His support for Wilhelm Reich when he was barred from the International Psychoanalytical Association in 1934 has already been mentioned. During Reich's residency in Norway between 1934 – 39 there were vituperative debates over his theories and practice, and Ola Raknes was one of his strongest apologists. During the so-called Reich strife in the fall of 1937 and throughout 1938 the criticism that was leveled at Reich's theories and methods, in particular from traditional psychiatry, was unusually harsh. The attacks, some of which deteriorated to mudslinging and slander, were often strongly emotional, and Ola Raknes was among those of Reich's proponents who countered the criticism, which was most forcibly promulgated by the psychiatrist Johan Scharffenberg who insinuated that Reich merely pretended to be a physician, that he performed illegal medical treatment, and that Reich had wanted to perform electrical measurements on insane patients having sexual intercourse (Stai, 1954), and later by physician Gabriel Langfeldt (Raknes, 1939). Both in conjunction with the strife surrounding Reich in Norwegian public discourse, and later, during the resistance which Ola Raknes was met with in his work being an exponent for a controversial branch of psychotherapy, what Raknes "would represent, was founded on one ground only; his own experience and his scientific conscience. He was not someone merely parroting his great teacher. Nor was he an errand-boy; as a therapist he was in time going to speak out with professional authority. And the only thing that drove him, was what he believed to be the truth. In this respect he showed no deference, and cared not how others might judge him." (Skard, 1975)