Roberto Freire (

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

, b. January 18, 1927;

, d. May 23, 2008) was a medical psychiatrist and Brazilian writer, who created somatherapy (Portuguese: somaterapia), also referred to as SOMA, an anarchist therapy based on the then radical new ideas of

Wilhelm Reich Wilhelm Reich ( , ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian doctor of medicine and a psychoanalyst, along with being a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author of several influential books, most ...

, as well as the Brazilian

martial art Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...

Capoeira Angola Capoeira () is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics, music and spirituality. Born of the melting pot of enslaved Africans, Indigenous Brazilians and Portuguese influences at the beginning of the 16th centu ...

Somatherapy

Somatherapy (or Soma) was created by the Freire in the 1970s as a group therapy,"Soma - An anarchist play therapy"
by '' Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed'' based on the research of the psychoanalyst

. With the objective of freeing the individual to be more creative, the exercises in Soma work with the relationship between the body and emotions. Other essential ingredients in Soma are the studies of

antipsychiatry Anti-psychiatry is a movement based on the view that psychiatric treatment is often more damaging than helpful to patients, highlighting controversies about psychiatry. Objections include the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis, the questionabl ...

related to human communication and the Brazilian martial art / dance

. Soma groups last a year and a half, with frequent sessions, including usually one full weekend per month for the entire group, as well as frequent capoeira classes, study sessions, social activities, and two self-organized group trips. These times together allow the participants to build and develop the group dynamic, in line with the principles of anarchism.

References

* http://enciclopedia.itaucultural.org.br/pessoa400283/roberto-freire * http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ilustrada/2008/05/405070-escritor-e-psiquiatra-roberto-freire-morre-aos-81-anos-em-sp.shtml 1927 births 2008 deaths Brazilian psychiatrists Brazilian male writers Brazilian anarchists 20th-century Brazilian physicians {{Anarchist-stub