This essay takes two different research directions in order to investigate if the actions of the dissident psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, in the cultural-scientific scenario of the first half of the twentieth century, allow us to associate him to the mental hygiene movement. One of the research directions is a review of some writings about the origins and the defining orientations of modern public health care, hygienism and especially the mental hygiene movement. The second one concerns a referring to Reich's work - articles, books, chapters, letters and interviews - aiming to observe: a) direct references to the mental hygiene movement; b) analyses or accounts of the author's actions linked to this movement; c) usages of its characteristic vocabulary. As a conclusion, understanding guidelines about Reich's participation in the cultural-scientific scenario of the first half of the twentieth century, regarding to the mental hygiene movement, were formulated.
Wilhelm Reich; mental hygiene; psychoanalysis