Delusions of snakes and snakes in delusion: rubrics representation

Dr Babita Rani Jamwal

Abstract: Delusion is a false perception of reality, and disease too is a false perception of the present. The whole mental state of a person is an expression of this false perception. Ophidia  have  around 15 medicines and every medicines represent different kinds of delusions depending upon their grades which helps in the medicine selection. Delusion is never a mere object which can be objectively detected and described because it evolves and exists within subjective and interpersonal dimensions only. Such as: Delusions of organs seem to be drawn together and the single medicine is Naja.

Keywords: Subjective symptom, Rubrics, Snakes, Delusions, Repertory.

Introduction: Delusion is a belief i.e. clearly false and indicates an abnormality in the affected person’s content of thought. A person with a delusion will hold firmly to the belief regardless of evidence to the contrary and convinced that the delusion is real. Delusion is never a mere object which can be objectively detected and described because it evolves and exists within subjective and interpersonal dimensions only.¹Delusion comes under the intellect classification of the symptoms according to Kent. Delusions are mostly very subtle and subjective in nature and it is mainly depict the inner nature or personality of the person yet they affect the entire outlook of a person. Delusions have both literal and symbolic interpretations. In the case of the literal interpretation the person would actually experience the state related to the delusion. The symbolic use of rubrics can transcend their literal interpretation.²

Delusion is a false perception of reality, and disease too is a false perception of the present. The whole mental state of a person is an expression of this false perception.³

There are mainly 15 medicines in the Ophidia group. Lachesis, Crotalus horridus, Crotalus cascavella,Naja,Elaps, Bothrops lanceolatus,Vipera torva,Vipera communis,Vipera jedi,Cenchris contortrix, Bungarus fasciatus,Toxicophis,Hydrophis cyanocinctus, Clotho arictans, Ophiotoxinum. Different delusions by different medicines plays important role in medicine selection. 

Alphabetical representation of different delusions of Ophidia through rubrics:-⁴

• DELUSIONS – afternoon, it is always: lach.
• DELUSIONS – alone, being: bit-ar. dendr-pol.
• DELUSIONS – animals : Crot-h. lach.
• DELUSIONS – animals – being an animal right through lach.
• DELUSIONS – animals – frightful Crot-h.
• DELUSIONS – animals – surrounded by ugly animals: crot-h.
• DELUSIONS – animals – ugly Crot-h
• DELUSIONS – asylum – mental asylum; sent to lach.
• DELUSIONS – asylum – she will be sent to cench. lach.
• DELUSIONS – attacked; being crot-c.
• DELUSIONS – beautiful : Lach.
• DELUSIONS – beautiful – landscape; of: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – bed – falling – out of bed: crot-c.
• DELUSIONS – bed – falling – through the bed  lach.
• DELUSIONS – bed – sinking – bed is sinking  Lach.
• DELUSIONS – bed – sinking – patient were sinking down; bed and: lach.
• DELUSIONS – bed – sinking – she is sinking – through the bed: lach.
• DELUSIONS – bed – sinking – she is sinking – with the bed: lach.
• DELUSIONS – body – disintegrating: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – body – lighter than air; body is: lach.
• DELUSIONS – beaten, he is being: elaps 
• DELUSIONS – body – out of the body: bit-ar
• DELUSIONS – brain – intoxicated; brain is – blood; by degraded: crot-h.
• DELUSIONS – brain – softening: crot-h.
• DELUSIONS – buzzing; everything seems to be: bit-ar.
• DELUSIONS – caged: dendr-pol.
• DELUSIONS – charmed and cannot break the spell: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – conspiracies – against him; there are conspiracies: lach. 
• DELUSIONS – clouds – black cloud enveloped her; a heavy: dendr-pol. 
• DELUSIONS – crime – about to commit a Lach.
• DELUSIONS – crime – committed a crime; he had:lach.
• DELUSIONS – criticized, she is: lach. toxi
• DELUSIONS – criminal, he is a: crot-c. 
• DELUSIONS – danger, impression of toxi.
• DELUSIONS – dead – he himself was: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – dead – he himself was – funeral; and preparations were being made for her: lach.
• DELUSIONS – dead – mother is, his: lach.
• DELUSIONS – dead – persons, sees: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – despised; is lach.
• DELUSIONS – devil: lach.
• DELUSIONS – devil – sees: lach.
• DELUSIONS – deceived; being: crot-c. 
• DELUSIONS – die – about to die; one was: cench.Lach.
• DELUSIONS – die – about to die; one was – exhaustion; she would die from: lach.
• DELUSIONS – die – about to die; one was – help her off; and wishes someone would: lach. DELUSIONS – die – time has come to: dendr-pol.lach.
• DELUSIONS – disease – incurable disease; he has an: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – doomed, being: lach.
• DELUSIONS – doomed, being – drunkards, in: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – double – being:  lach.
• DELUSIONS – drawn – organs seem to be drawn together: Naja
• DELUSIONS – enemy – surrounded by enemies: Crot-h.
• DELUSIONS – enlarged: bit-ar. cench. lach.
• DELUSIONS – enlarged – body is: bit-ar. cench.
• DELUSIONS – enlarged – body is – fat; feeling: bit-ar
• DELUSIONS – evil: lach.
• DELUSIONS – evil – happened to him; feeling as though some evil had: lach.
• DELUSIONS – evening: lach.
• DELUSIONS – experienced – before; thought everything had been: dendr-pol.
• DELUSIONS – Eyes – moving slower than head: bit-ar.
• DELUSIONS – faces, sees: crot-c.
• DELUSIONS – faces, sees – ugly: crot-c.
• DELUSIONS – falling – forward – is falling forward; she: Elaps  
• DELUSIONS – fancy, illusions of: bit-ar. Crot-c. LACH.
• DELUSIONS – far off; as if: bit-ar.
• DELUSIONS – fire: lach.
• DELUSIONS – fire – night: lach.
• DELUSIONS – fire – visions of: lach.
• DELUSIONS – flying: dendr-pol. lach.
• DELUSIONS – floating: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – floating – air, in: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – floating – air, in – spirit; like a: lach.
• DELUSIONS – floating – bed – resting on the bed – he is not: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – forsaken; is: bit-ar. crot-c. Dendr-pol. lach
• DELUSIONS – forsaken; is – morning – waking; on: lach.
• DELUSIONS – friendless, he is: lach.
• DELUSIONS – friendless, he is – morning – waking; on: lach.
• DELUSIONS – fright – as if in a fright: lach.
• DELUSIONS – fright – as if in a fright – vision behind him; by a: lach.
• DELUSIONS – forced; that she is: crot-c.
• DELUSIONS – footsteps; hearing: crot-c.
• DELUSIONS – footsteps; hearing – behind him: crot-c.
• DELUSIONS – great person, is a:  crot-c. Lach.
• DELUSIONS – groans – hears: Crot-c.
• DELUSIONS – hated; by others :lach.
• DELUSIONS – hearing – illusions of: Elaps naja 
• DELUSIONS – heart – disease – going to have a heart disease and die; is: lach.
• DELUSIONS – heart – disease – having an:  lach.
• DELUSIONS – home – away from home; he is: lach. vip.
• DELUSIONS – house – people; house is full of: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – injury – being injured; is: Elaps_.  lach. Naja  
• DELUSIONS – identity – errors of personal identity: lach.
• DELUSIONS – identity – someone else, she is :Lach.
• DELUSIONS – images, phantoms; sees:bit-ar. Crot-h. LACH. toxi.
• DELUSIONS – images, phantoms; sees – alone, when: fl-ac. lach.
• DELUSIONS – images, phantoms; sees – frightful: Lach. toxi.
• DELUSIONS – images, phantoms; sees – frightful – closing the eyes; on: toxi.
• DELUSIONS – images, phantoms; sees – pleasant: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – images, phantoms; sees – night: crot-h.
• DELUSIONS – influence; one is under a powerful: Lach. Naja
• DELUSIONS – injury – about to receive injury; is: dendr-pol. lach.
• DELUSIONS – injury – about to receive injury; is – friends; from his: lach.
• DELUSIONS – injury – being injured; is: elaps lach.
• DELUSIONS – injury – being injured; is – surroundings; by his: Lach. Naja
• DELUSIONS – injury – being injured; is – head; at: naja
• DELUSIONS – insulted, he is: crot-c.
• DELUSIONS – insulted, he is – looked down upon: crot-c.
• DELUSIONS – intoxicated – is; he:cench.
• DELUSIONS – intoxicated – is; he – afternoon – 16 h and in the evening: cench.
• DELUSIONS – inhuman, animal-like: dendr-pol
• DELUSIONS – jealousy – with: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – journey; he is on a: crot-h. lach. 
• DELUSIONS – laughed at and mocked at; being: lach.
• DELUSIONS – light [= low weight] – is light; he: bit-ar. dendr-pol, lach.
• DELUSIONS – loquacity, with: lach.
• DELUSIONS – lost; she is: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – lost; she is – salvation; for: Lach
• DELUSIONS – lost; she is – salvation; for – predestination, from:Lach.
• DELUSIONS – medicine – taken; he had: bit-ar.
• DELUSIONS – medicine – taken; he had – placebo: bit-ar.
• DELUSIONS – mice – sees: lach.
• DELUSIONS – motion – up and down; delusion of a motion: lach.
• DELUSIONS – murdering; he is – has to murder someone; he: lach.
• DELUSIONS – music – hearing music: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – music – hearing music – delightful: lach.
• DELUSIONS – music – hearing music – sweetest and most sublime melody: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – music – thinks he hears: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – neglected – duty; he has neglected his: crot-c. naja
• DELUSIONS – neglected – duty; he has neglected his – headache, during: naja
• DELUSIONS – neglected – he or she is neglected: naja
• DELUSIONS – noise – hearing noise: naja
• DELUSIONS – night: vip. 
• DELUSIONS – people – behind him; someone is: crot-c. crot-h. dendr-pol. lach. Naja
• DELUSIONS – people – conversing with absent people: crot-c. lach. 
• DELUSIONS – person – other person; she is some: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – people – beside him; people are: cench.
• DELUSIONS – persecuted – he is persecuted: Cench. crot-c. crot-h. dendr-pol. Lach.
• DELUSIONS – penis – two penises; he had: dendr-pol.
• DELUSIONS – place – two places at the same time; of being in: Cench. 
• DELUSIONS – poisoned – he – about to be poisoned; he is_: lach.
• DELUSIONS – poisoned – he – has been: Lach. Naja vip.
• DELUSIONS – poisoned – medicine; being poisoned by:lach.
• DELUSIONS – possessed; being: lach.
• DELUSIONS – proud: lach 
• DELUSIONS – pursued; he was: crot-h. lach. vip.
• DELUSIONS – pursued; he was – enemies, by: crot-h. Lach.
• DELUSIONS – pursued; he was – devil, by: vip.
• DELUSIONS – rain – it is raining: naja
• DELUSIONS – rainstorm; she is in a: naja
• DELUSIONS – rats, sees: lach.
• DELUSIONS – reading – wrong; it seems: lach.
• DELUSIONS – religious: lach.
• DELUSIONS – rising: lach.
• DELUSIONS – rising – falling; then: lach.
• DELUSIONS – rowdies would break in if she was alone: elaps
• DELUSIONS – seeing – physicality of the world; through: bit-ar.
• DELUSIONS – separated – body – mind are separated; body and: bit-ar.
• DELUSIONS – separated – world; from the – he is separated: bit-ar.
• DELUSIONS – sick – being: :naja 
• DELUSIONS – sinking; to be: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – skeletons, sees: crot-c.
• DELUSIONS – smell, of: lach.
• DELUSIONS – small – body is smaller: crot-c. naja 
• DELUSIONS – snakes: crot-c. dendr-pol. lach.
• DELUSIONS – snakes – in and around her: bit-ar. crot-c. dendr-pol. lach.
• DELUSIONS – someone else – she were someone else – power; and in the hands of a strong:lach.
• DELUSIONS – space – carried into space; he was – lying; while: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – space – large; head in: bit-ar 
• DELUSIONS – specters, ghosts, spirits: Crot-c. crot-h. lach.
• DELUSIONS – specters, ghosts, spirits – closing eyes, on: Lach. 
• DELUSIONS – specters, ghosts, spirits – hovering in the air: lach.
• DELUSIONS – specters, ghosts, spirits – seeing: lach.
• DELUSIONS – specters, ghosts, spirits – death appears as a gigantic black skeleton: crot-c.crot-h.
• DELUSIONS – spied; being: lach.
• DELUSIONS – standing – head; standing on: elaps_. lach.
• DELUSIONS – stolen something; she has: lach.
• DELUSIONS – stolen something; she has – thinks it; or somebody: lach.
• DELUSIONS – starve – being starved: naja
• DELUSIONS – strong; he is: dendr-pol.
• DELUSIONS – superhuman; is – control; is under superhuman: Lach. Naja
• DELUSIONS – succeed, he does everything wrong; he cannot: naja 
• DELUSIONS – superiority, of: crot-c.
• DELUSIONS – talking – hears talking; he: elaps
• DELUSIONS – talking – people talk about her:crot-c.
• DELUSIONS – tall – he or she is tall: crot-c.
• DELUSIONS – talking – friends are talking about her: lach.
• DELUSIONS – thieves – house, in: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – thieves – jump out of window; therefore wants to: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – thieves – seeing: lach.
• DELUSIONS – tormented; he is: dendr-pol.
• DELUSIONS – trapped; he is: dendr-pol.
• DELUSIONS – understand – being understood; she was not: dendr-pol.
• DELUSIONS – unreal – everything seems unreal: bit-ar. 
• DELUSIONS – visions, has: Crot-c. Lach naja
• DELUSIONS – visions, has – beautiful: lach.
• DELUSIONS – visions, has – closing the eyes, on: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – visions, has – clouds of colors: lach.
• DELUSIONS – visions, has – fantastic: lach.
• DELUSIONS – visions, has – horrible: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – visions, has – horrible – behind him: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – visions, has – horrible – dark, in the: lach.
• DELUSIONS – visions, has – real; visions are: lach.
• DELUSIONS – visions, has – wonderful: lach.
• DELUSIONS – vivid: Lach.
• DELUSIONS – voices – hearing: cench. Crot-c. crot-h. Elaps 
• DELUSIONS – voices – hearing – commit crime; voice commands him to: lach.
• DELUSIONS – voices – hearing – confess things she never did; she must: lach.
• DELUSIONS – voices – hearing – follow, that he must: crot-c. lach.
• DELUSIONS – voices – hearing – strangers, of: crot-c.
• DELUSIONS – veil – mind and reality; between: bit-ar.
• DELUSIONS – walking – behind him; someone walks :crot-c. lach.
• DELUSIONS – wasting away: naja
• DELUSIONS – wrong – done wrong; he has: crot-c. Lach. naja
• DELUSIONS – wrong – everything goes wrong: Naja
• DELUSIONS – wrong – suffered wrong; he has: lach. Naja
• DELUSIONS – wrong – suffered wrong; he has – children; in:  naja

Conclusion: Delusion comes under the subjective symptoms and having important place in homoeopathy. The more untrue, exaggerated and foolish the mental state is, the more strange, rare and peculiar its symptoms become. This makes these rubrics characteristic of the individual and important when referring to the repertory. Delusions come in different strengths and shapes. The parable of the snake and rope is taken from Vedanta. For a person to be afraid of a snake in their path is a common reaction. To not feel fear would be strange, rare and peculiar. The three levels of delusion are: being obsessed with something that can’t hurt you any more, projecting the delusion on the objects or people around you, and creating the objective appearance of a delusion mentally. These three levels of delusion represent progressively deeper states of psychopathology. When a person sees the snake and retreats that should be the end of the matter. If the feeling of fear still lingers long afterwards, the individual is under the delusion that the snake can still hurt them although it cannot. 

References:-

1. Chandra K, Chaudhory S.Understanding delusions. Ind Psychiatry J.2009 Jan-Jun;18(1):3-18.
2. Little D. Delusions and Dreams in Homoeopathy. Homoeopathic online education.[Internet]2007 [Cited 2018 Jun 7] Available from: http www.simillimum.com/education/littlelibrary/homoeopathicphilosophy/ddh/article
3. Sankaran R.The Spirit of Homeopathy, Bombay:Homeopathic Medical Publishers;1992.
4. RADAR 10.Archibel Homoeopathic Software. Belgium. 2009.

Dr.Babita Rani Jamwal, M.D.(Hom.)
Asst.Prof.( Dept. Of Repertory ) Solan Homeopathic Medical College & Hospital Kumarhatti, Himachal Pradesh.