 Reich joined the faculty of the Psychoanalytic Institute in Vienna in 1924 and became its director of training . According to Danto , he was well @-@ regarded for the weekly technical seminars he chaired at the Ambulatorium , where he gave papers on his theory of character structure , arguing that psychoanalysis should be based on the examination of unconscious character traits , later known as ego defences . The seminars were attended , from 1927 , by Fritz Perls , who went on to develop Gestalt therapy with his wife , Laura Perls . Several commentators remarked on how captivating the seminars were and how eloquently Reich spoke . According to a Danish newspaper in 1934 : 
