Mind expresses the insight for individualisation-the rubric- antics plays

Dr Akshara T

ABSTRACT
The rubric “Antics, plays” from mind chapter of Kent’s repertory means that something that is foolish, outrageous or amusing behaviour.

There are 9 remedies under this rubric which are Belladonna, Cuprum Metallicum, Hyocyamus, Lactuca virosa, Mercurius Solubilis, Opium, Phosphorus, Plumbum Metallicum, Stramonium.  Each of these remedies has unique characteristics that differentiate them in the context of playing antics.

KEY WORDS
Antics plays, Belladonna, Cuprum Metallicum, Hyocyamus, Lactuca virosa, Mercurius Solubilis, Opium, Phosphorus, Plumbum Metallicum, Stramonium

INTRODUCTION
Antics is a comical behaviour which is bold or foolish. It is funny, silly, ridiculous and absurd. These actions are usually done to draw attention. It is grotesque where the person makes gestures which are comically or repulsively ugly or distorted in an intension to draw attention on themselves.

1. Belladonna
   • Keynotes: Sudden onset of symptoms, constrictions, red face, dilated pupils, hot head with cold limbs. Red streaked mammae.
   • Mental Symptoms: Intense, often violent behaviour; sudden anger; hallucinations; fear of imaginary things, tries to escape. Over active. Excited.
   • Antics: May show delirious behaviour with wild, violent, and sudden outbursts. The delusions, dreams and fears of belladonna have to do with sudden threat and he reacts with violence, impulse to set things on fire, attempts to escape, to run away. There is a feeling that he will be pursued, killed.
2. Cuprum Metallicum
   • Keynotes: Spasms, cramps, convulsions, twitching, metallic taste. delirium, incoherency of speech, loss of memory.
   • Mental Symptoms: fear of being attacked and the need to defend. Cannot bear anyone coming near them.
   • Antics: Can exhibit odd, unpredictable, and aggressive behaviour, often with sudden, violent outbursts. The child cannot bear anyone coming near her and reacts immediately by striking, shrieking, biting, spitting, rage, kicking, attacking with fists etc.
3. Hyoscyamus
   • Keynotes: Jealousy, suspiciousness, spasms, tremor, jerks and nervous wakefulness
   • Mental Symptoms: Talkativeness, obscene gestures, and inappropriate laughing; many bewildering aberrations, confusion, delirium, erotic mania. Active mania alternating with or ending in depressive narcosis.
   • Antics: Silly, with comical acts; plays fingers. Fumbles the genitals foolish behaviour; may strip off clothes, laugh inappropriately. Patient acts or behaves like a monkey. Patient acts like a clown. A man whose wife is having an extra marital affair is scared that she will leave him, so he tries to attract her attention by joking, talking and with sexual behaviour.
4. Lactuca Virosa
   • Keynotes: Nervous irritability, restlessness, and insomnia.
   • Mental Symptoms: Nervous excitement, vivid dreams.
   • Antics: Can show foolish, erratic behaviour, with marked restlessness and impulsive actions. Excessive ill humour which is roused by slightest provocation.
5. Mercurius Solubilis
   • Keynotes: Hypersensitivity, restlessness, suppuration and trembling.
   • Mental Symptoms: Confusion, memory loss, anxiety, and suspiciousness, hurried, nervousness. stammering
   • Antics: violent destructive behaviour often linked to confusion and mental dullness, combined with physical restlessness. He feels viciously attacked from all sides. He has the delusion that he is surrounded by enemies, that everyone is his enemy and he has to fight his way out.
6. Opium
   • Keynotes: Lack of pain perception, sleepiness, and stupor. Paralysis, internal dryness.
   • Mental Symptoms: Euphoria, stupor, and a dream-like state; lack of response to surroundings. Says nothing ails him.
   • Antics: Can display inappropriate happiness or foolish behaviour, often in a dull, inattentive manner. Mania with fantastic or fixed ideas, patient believes, contrary to fact, that he is not at home.
7. Phosphorus
   • Keynotes: Nervous exhaustion, sensitivity to external impressions, and haemorrhagic tendencies. Human barometer. Active metabolism.
   • Mental Symptoms: Anxiety, fear of the dark and thunder storm, and sociability; desire for company.
   • Antics: Playful, lively, and somewhat silly behaviour; can be excitable and overly talkative, with a tendency to seek attention. The main feeling of being unloved and uncared for, to which the patient reacts by being affectionate, friendly and sympathetic in the hope that this love and care will be reciprocated
8. Plumbum Metallicum
   • Keynotes: Paralysis, muscle wasting, and lead colic.
   • Mental Symptoms: Depression, melancholy, and indifference.
   • Antics: Patients can sometimes include odd, foolish, or inappropriate actions. They have the feeling that he is no ordinary person, he is a king or a ruler of the highest order. Hence, what he fears is assassination rather than simply murder. They feel attacked and has to defend himself against the same.
9. Stramonium
   • Keynotes: Violence, fear, delirium, and convulsions.
   • Mental Symptoms: Night terrors, intense fear, hallucinations, and mania.
   • Antics: Extreme and bizarre behaviour, often with violent and fearful delusions; may act wildly and exhibit sudden, frantic movements. He feels abandoned, forsaken, left in a terrifying place alone in the wilderness. Facing the sudden realization of this terrifying situation, his brain refuses to work: he cannot recognise who is around him, he just clings to whoever or whatever is there.

Each remedy in the “Antics, plays” rubric is associated with a specific set of mental and physical symptoms that help homeopaths to choose the most appropriate remedy based on the patient’s totality of symptoms. The differentiation highlights the unique aspects of each remedy’s action on the mind and behaviour, which is mandatory in the practice of homeopathy.

REFERENCES

1. Kent JT. Repertory of the homeopathic materia medica. New Delhi: B. Jain; 2016.
2. Kent JT. Lectures on homoeopathic materia medica : together with Kent’s “new remedies” incorporated & arranged in one alphabetical order. New Delhi: B. Jain; 2015.
3. Boericke W. Pocket Manual of Homeopathic Materia Medica & Repertory. New Delhi, India: B. Jain; 2007.
4. John Henry Clarke. A dictionary of practical materia medica. B. Jain Publishers; 1997.
5. Rajan Sankaran. The soul of remedies. Bombay, India: Homoeopathic Medical Publishers; 1997.
6. Boger CM. A synoptic key to the materia medica : (a treatise for homoeopathic students). New Delhi: B. Jain Publishers; 1995.

Dr Akshara T
PG Scholar, Department of Case taking and Repertorization
Father Muller Homoeopathic Medical College, Mangalore, Karnataka
Email :thayyilakshara@gmail.com