 Sharaf writes that working with labourers , farmers and students allowed Reich to move away from treating neurotic symptoms to observing chaotic lifestyles and anti @-@ social personalities . Reich argued that neurotic symptoms such as obsessive @-@ compulsive disorder were an unconscious attempt to gain control of a hostile environment , including poverty or childhood abuse . They were examples of what he called " character armour " ( Charakterpanzer ) , repetitive patterns of behaviour , speech and body posture that served as defence mechanisms . According to Danto , Reich sought out patients at the Ambulatorium who had been diagnosed as psychopaths , believing that psychoanalysis could free them of their rage . 
