Differentiation of 1st grade remedies under the rubric Hysteria from Kent’s Repertory

Differentiation of 1^st grade remedies under the rubric   “Hysteria” from Kent’s Repertory 

Dr SILAI EZHIL

“Hysteria” the word, originates from the Greek word for uterus. Historically, hysteria was thought to manifest itself in women with a variety of symptoms, including: anxiety, shortness of breath, fainting, insomnia, irritability, nervousness, as well as sexually forward behavior. Through to the 20th century, however, the label hysteria was applied to a mental, rather than uterine or physical, affliction.

In modern usage the term hysteria connotes mass panic. Hysterical, applied to an individual, can mean that he or she is emotional or irrationally upset; applied to a situation, it means that the situation is uncontrollably amusing.

Hysteria seems like a term that applies to people who are being a little overly emotional, so it may surprise you to learn that it was once a common medical diagnosis. In layman’s terms, hysteria is often used to describe behavior that seems excessive and out of control.

When someone responds in a way that seems disproportionately emotional for the situation, they are often described as hysterical.

In our homeopathic materia medica, we usually tend to read the remedies being described as hysterical remedies, hysteria, being hysterical etc. In this article we will discuss how each remedy differs in hysteria or being hysterical.

First grade remedies for hysteria in kents repertory

1.ASAFOETIDA 

THE SYMPTOMS OF ASAFOETIDA PRESENT AN ALMOST PERFECT PICTURE OF HYSTERIA, OF THE FLATULENT ORDER.

• Hysteria from suddenly suppressed discharges. 
• Hysterical restlessness & anxiety.
• Excessive abdominal distention & sensation as if everything in the abdomen would burst through the mouth. Sinking sensation in the epigastrium <11 am.
• Particularly adapted to people who are fat, flabby persons, extremely nervous, extremely sensitive to pain, full of hysteria scrofulous individuals not the lean thin people. The venous constitution, and these people get the worst kind of hysteria; they go off almost from no cause into fainting; from a close room, from excitement, from any disturbance; sometimes cramps come on, but more especially fainting.
• Patients often say, “I get no sympathy when I am sick because I look so well;” fat, flabby and purple.
• If he thinks of having taken the drug, it causes faintness.
• Dissatisfied with ones self, complaints about ones trouble, unsteady fickle, ill humoured & irritable. Globus hystericus- sensation of ball rising in the throat obliging frequent swallowing to keep it down & causing at times difficult breathing.

2.AURUM METALLICUM

VIOLENT HYSTERIA WITH DESPERATE ACTIONS,THAT THRASHES ONESELF ABOUT, VIOLENT THOUGHTS, QUARRELSOME.

• It is adapted to nervous, hysterical women, girls at puberty, pinning boys, who are low spirited, life less, weak memory, yet sensitive to pain, which despair. When in hysterical state they become violent.
• Hateful & quarrelsome, indisposed to talk.
• Peevish & vehement on least contradiction or cheerful alternately.
• Cannot do things fast enough, oversensitiveness, to noise , excitement, confusion.
• Rapid questioning, without waiting for a reply.
• Suicidal anguish.
• Intense hopeless depression & disgust of life. She does everything wrong, thinks had neglected something, her friends, her duty.

3.CAUSTICUM

HYSTERIA IS A PROGRESSIVE TROUBLE IN CAUSTICUM.

• Gradually increasing hysteria.
• Her nervous system becomes extremely sensitive to noise, touch, excitement or anything unusual. 
• Hysterical cramping. The women loses all control of herself & says foolish things.
• Starting from the slightest noise, startling in sleep, twitching & jerking or act as if startled without cause. 
• Timorous anxiety, over whelmed with fearful fancies.

4.COCCULUS

HYSTERIA & OTHER NERVOUS TROUBLES ARISING FROM OVER ANXIETY, NIGHT WATCHING & CONSEQUENT LOSS OF SLEEP.

• Suitable to light haired, timid, nervous persons, book worms, unmarried, childless women, sensitive, romantic girls. 
• Very susceptible to fear, anger, grief & all mental disturbances.
• Very sensitive mood, everything worries her. 
• Anxiety as if she had committed a great crime, startles easily.
• Extremely sad, tactiturn & peevish. 
• Unilateral affections, twitching of isolated groups of muscles.
• Slowness in moving, in answering, wants plenty of time to do everything.
• Vaccilatory, doesnot accomplish anything at work.

5.CONIUM 

IN WOMAN, WHO IS OF UNUSUAL SEXUAL VIGOR THERE MAY BE CONGESTION OF THE UTERUS & OVARIES, WITH HYSTERIA & EXCITABILITY- CONIUM IS THE REMEDY.

• Hysterical convulsions.
• Paroxysms of hysteria & hypochondriasis from sexual abstinence or sexual excess.
• When in a state of considerable vigor, if suddenly deprived the woman or the man takes a state of trembling weakness, inability to stand any mental effort. Inability to put the attention upon things & by others.
• Hysteria & hypochondrical state of mind, with nervousness, trembling and weakness of the muscles.
• Gets tired in the earlier stages but finally goes on until the limbs are paralytic.
• Periodical insanity, of alternating type( every fourteen day) 
• Cares very little for things, makes useless purchases, wastes or ruins them.
• Thinks that animals are jumping on his bed.

6.GELSIMIUM 

HYSTERICAL CONVULSIONS.

• Adopted to young people to persons of nervous, irritable, hysterical, irritable, temperament.
• Body feels light in onanists or hysterical subjects.
• Ill effects of fright, fear, depressing emotions, anger, badnews, unpleasant surprise.
• Muscles weak & will not obey the will.
• Trembling & weakness, listless & languid, easily fatigued.
• Cramps in muscles of forearm.
• Excessive trembling & weakness of all limbs. Fatigue after slight exercise. 
• Loss of power of muscular control.

7. IGNATIA

HYSTERICAL DIATHESIS.

• Ignatia is frequently required & is especially suited to sensitive, delicate women & children to hysterical women.
• You will not cure the natural hysterics with ignatia, but you will cure those gentle, sensitive, fine fibred, refined, highly educated, over wrought women in their nervous complaints. 
• When a woman , when over wrought & over excited , emotional, will do things as if she herself cannot account for, she will do things as if she were crazy in her excitement, will do things that she regrets, while hysteric is always glad for it. When she is excited, disturbed & goes to cramps, trembles & quivers goes to bed with headache. Ignatia can be her remedy. Hysterical debility & fainting fits, weakness of the body coming on suddenly, fainting in crowd.
• Jerking, twitching, convulsive twitchings. Emotional chorea, after fright, fear.
• Hysterical stomach- strange in indigestion, she eats some raw cabbage & some chopped onions & from that time on she is well. Mentally, emotional element is upper most & co ordination of function is interfered with. Hence, it is one of the chief remedies for hysteria.

8.KALI PHOS

HYSTERIA WITH NERVOUS WEAKNESS.

• Nervous excitement has increased until hysterical conduct is present.
• All forms of nervous weakness
• Hypochondriasis & hysteria.
• Flies in to passion & can hardly articulate.
• Apprehensive anxiety, evening in bed & during the night.
• Very excitable wrought up from bad news, then follows palpitation & many nervous symptoms. 
• Shyness- disinclined to converse, indisposition to meet people. 
• A nervous hurry is noticed in action & speech. 
• Nervous, sensitive, weak & easily fagged by slight causes like pain, worry, mental fatigue.

9.LACHESIS

HYSTERICAL SYMPTOMS, weeping, mental depression, with pain in the heart WITH A GONE SENSATION OR SENSATION OF WEAKNESS IN THE HEART, WITH DIFFICULT BREATHING.

• Apprehension of the future. Thinks she is going to have heart disease is going insane & that people are contriving to put her in an insane asylum.
• Religious insanity, loquacious .
• Talks, sings, whistles, makes odd motions.
• Crawls on the floor, spits often, hides, laughs or is angry, during spasms.
• Restless, uneasy, doesnot want to attend to business, want to be off some where all the time.
• Loquaciousness continually changing from one subject to another.

10.MAG.MUR

HYSTERICAL SYMPTOMS & SPASMODIC COMPLAINTS COUPLED WITH ANXIETY & RESTLESSNESS.

• Suited to nervous patients with stomach & liver troubles.
• He is extremely restless, only with great difficulty he can keep still & if forced to keep still, he becomes anxious.
• Anxiety is marked feature. Occurs in patients who are tired from being worked up to the highest pitch.
• Anxiety < night in bed & still worse on closing the eyes to sleep. When he closes the eyes he becomes anxious, restless & fidgety that he must throw the covers off, take a long breath or do something. 
• Anxious in room > open air. 
• Anxiety at night on closing the yes, while reading she felt as if someone were reading after her & she must read faster & faster.

11.NATRUM MURIATICUM

HYSTERICAL CONDITION OF THE MIND & BODY. WEEPING ALTERNATING WITH LAUGHING. IRRESISTIBLE LAUGHING AT UNSUITABLE TIMES, PROLONGED SPASMODIC LAUGHTER.

• This will be followed by tearfulness, great sadness, joylessness. 
• No matter how cheering the circumstances are she cannot bring herself into the states of being joyful. Consolation aggravates. The tearfulness sometimes brings on anger. She appears to bid for sympathy & is mad when it is given.
• Hysterical girls, who fall in love with married person & cant help it though they know its wrong.
• Ill effects of anger, grief, fright etc.
• Tears with laughter. Cheerful. Laughs, sings, dances alternating with sadness.

12.NUX MOSCHATA

HYSTERICAL WOMEN WITH SENSE OF DUALITY; THINKS SHE HAS TWO HEADS, SENSE OF TWO PERSONS.

• Useful to scrawny, delicate, hysterical women who have small breast & who cry or laugh by turns.
• Ill effects of fright, mental exertion, suppressed eruptions. 
• Clairvoyant states, dreamy. 
• Bewildered, objects seem changed or grow larger. Thoughts suddenly vanish, while talking, reading or writing.
• She appears to be dazed, she is automatic in her actions. She goes about the house performing her duties, but if interrupted, forgets what she has been doing. 
• This singular state of mind, sometimes found in hysterical women. Seems to be in a dream, seems not to know her friends.

13.PLATINA 

HYSTERICAL WOMEN WHO HAVE UNDERGONE FRIGHT, PROLONGED EXCITEMENT.

• Even from disappointment, shock or prolonged haemorrhages, she becomes arrogant & haughty.
• Contemptuous mood, anxious & serious over matter that are not serious, irritable about trifle things, moody, sulky over slight vexations, anxious weeping. 
• Restlessness disposition, excitable, walking, moving about & weeps.
• Spasmodic affections, spasms from sexual erethism.
• Laughs at wrong time.
• Changing moods, weeps & laughs alternatively. 
• Whistles, sings, dance. Etc 

14.SEPIA

HYSTERICAL DIATHESIS.

• Breaks out in spells of weeping, is sad one minute, gentle, yielding & in another she is disagreeable, excitable, obstinate. She doesn’t know what she does next.
• She says & does strange things, makes errors.
• Fear of ghosts, that something unusual will happen. 
• Never happy unless annoying someone.
• Passionate, irritable, the greatest irritability from slight causes, very easily offended.

15.TARENTULA 

HYSTERICAL CONVULSIONS WHEN ATTENTION IS DIRECTED TOWARDS HER.

• Malingering, no hysterical manifestations when there are no observers, but when attention is directed to her, she begins to twitch, feigns fainting, insensibility, but looks side ways to observe the effect on those around her. 
• Ill effects of unrequited love, bad news, scolding, punishment, falls.
• Desire to strike herself or others. 
• Laughs, mocks, runs, dances, gesticulates, jokes, cries, sings till hoarse & exhausted.
• Destructive, destroys whatever she can tear her clothes etc.
• Fits of nervous laughter than screaming, dances up & down.
• Restlessness, cannot keep still.

16.VERATRUM ALB

IT IS A REMEDY THAT WOULD KEEP MANY WOMEN OUT OF THE INSANE ASYLUM ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH UTERINE TROUBLES.

• Girls at puberty suffer with dysmenorrhea, hysterical, mental states diarrhea & vomiting.
• Hysteria with coldness at the menstrual period, copious sweat, vomiting & diarrhoea etc 
• Ill effects of fright, disappointed love, injured pride or honour. 
• Kissed everybody before menses. Sings, whistles, laughs.
• Runs from place to place.
• Mania alternating with taciturnity. Desire to cut & tear things. Prays, curses & shriek.
• Howling all night.
• Sexual mania proceeds menses.

REFERENCES

1. A dictionary of practical material medica- JH Clarke.
2. Homeopathic material medica- William boericke
3. Regional leaders – E.B. Nash.
4. Lectures on homeopathic material medica- J.T. Kent.
5. Keynotes & characteristics with comparision – H.C. Allen.
6. Materia medica of homeopathic medicines-  S.R. phatak. 

Dr SILAI EZHIL
PG Scholar, department of material medica
Government homeopathic medical college & hospital,
Banglore.