Pleasure Primacy
In the Reich and Lowen tradition, it is considered more relevant to restore the pleasure principle to good working order than the reality principle Most therapies assume that the pleasure principle is in good working order and they assume that the reality principle is broken in some way leading to suffering. Certainly, with neurosis, ample unrealistic behavior is seen.
Reich and Lowen insisted, however, that such behavior results from a faulty pleasure function, and that without repair of this, self-defeating and other types of distorted behavior will nonetheless remain compelling. Cognitive and rational approaches will only train the client to try to hide his or her inclination for such behavior.