Homeopathy Book Reviews Materia Medica

Discovering Life: Homeopathic portraits An In-Depth Modern Materia Medica

Dr. Luc De Schepper discusses his new materia medica and provides an extended excerpt of Staphysagria.

This modern Materia Medica, the result of eight years of work, is very different from existing ones. Still based on the old provings, more clarity has been brought into these portraits though depth-psychology, philosophy, and clinical examples, while also addressing the problem of translating the language of the patient into the language of the materia medica and provings. Each portrait tells a vivid story, starting from the Cyber Delusion (or Core Delusion), causalities, and leading to its compensations. Additionally, from the unpublished “Gems and Pearls from Old Masters,” valuable clinically proven tips are added to help the homeopath in his practice.

What is New in This Materia Medica?

What makes this materia medica different from others? Why a new materia medica among the glut of existing ones? One of the most confounding aspects of homeopathy, which I have noticed while teaching throughout the world, is the difficulty that both students and experienced practitioners have in translating the language of the patient into the language of the materia medica. This book addresses that need. This is done partly through sharing observations with creative in-depth applications, avoiding a sterile accumulation of statistical facts that would add nothing to the truths and knowledge of health and disease in the human body. A pure citation of the proving symptoms without in-depth analysis would, likewise, offer too little explanation to apply in the daily practice. In addition to providing practical information that is both accurate and rich in detail, this book also addresses a major issue of the old materia medica: the use of cryptic language which does not always resonate with our present idiom. For instance, in Hering’s Guiding Symptoms, we can read in the provings for the same remedy both “taciturn” and “loquacious”—on the same page. What can the student of homeopathy do with this information? How does one deal with this apparent inconsistency? The addressing of the dominant miasmatic state of the patient when he presents in the clinic leads to ready understanding of such an apparent contradiction; these expressions refer to behaviors that take place in two different miasmatic states (syphilitic and sycotic).

Some modern materia medicas, in their attempts to offer something new, take the road of the esoteric and speculative, disconnecting entirely from the old provings—a mortal sin in clinical homeopathic application. Others simply take on most of the Masters’ cryptic and archaic language without adding anything to it but a few small nuggets from their own clinical findings. The result is that such materia medicas remain, at best, obscure for the modern practitioner; at worst, they may be dangerously misleading. In other words, remedies need to be able to reveal their stories through illumination with additional languages—those of philosophy, psychology, and TCM—while confirming the real provings of the Masters. In such a manner, using accessible vocabulary and describing situations directly applicable in a contemporary clinic, this book tells a fuller, more accurate, and more individual story for each remedy.

This book offers a solution to the difficulties the homeopath encounters in the practice through the application of in-depth, modern psychology and philosophy to the Masters’ proving symptoms. By learning how to translate the patient’s common language into the language of this materia medica, the practitioner will greatly facilitate her work in the clinical setting. This book is the first materia medica to present modern, cohesive stories about remedies: it is as if the patient were present on consult. The rubrics in the Essential Synthesis, as well as Hering’s and T.F. Allen’s proving symptoms, are used as references and put in italics.

I have added live cases from the clinic in some remedy portraits in order to make the descriptions even more accurate and vivid; rubrics corresponding to patients’ statements are added in the text in italics. (Intimate details about these cases are omitted to protect patient privacy.) The connection with the enigmatic language and symbols of dreams is also broached in this materia medica; it provides a homeopath’s introduction to seeing dreams, in an accurate context, for what they are: messengers from the unconscious presenting a view that enlarges, completes, or compensates the conscious attitude. It is beyond the scope of this book to elaborate on dream interpretation (which will be the subject of a future book). But the reader will become aware that dreams are indeed an unconscious reaction to a conscious, individual situation, confirming individuality as a sacred homeopathic principle.

Throughout the portraits, differential diagnoses with common complementary remedies are analyzed, again facilitating the homeopath’s work in the clinic by encouraging an understanding of the fine nuances of remedies in the same rubric. Delusions, rather than possessing obscure meanings, are explained and often grouped in a central theme so that their enigmatic message truly becomes the beginning of the remedy’s story. Initially, in my student years, I buried myself in thousands of the Masters’ papers that were stored in the belly of the medical library at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor—the place where Kent once taught homeopathy. I then put the information together for my own use in a manuscript I called Gems and Pearls; this manuscript was available to some of my students, but I never published it officially. These wonderful tips from the practices of the Masters deal mainly with the physical aspects of disease (without neglecting the emotional and the picture as a whole) as homeopathy at that time was (as it still is) far ahead of allopathy when it came to conquering common daily illnesses as well as epidemics of measles, scarlatina, pertussis, typhoid fever, dysentery, malaria, cholera, and others. For the first time, this information is now added and expanded to each portrait to enhance the full picture and to present characteristic, clinically proven physical indications for both acute and chronic conditions of the remedy in question. You will find them under the heading “Golden Tips from the Masters” at the end of each portrait. It must be said, as a reminder, that these clinical tips in no way indicate specific remedies for specific diseases: as always, the totality of the symptoms must be taken into account before prescribing the simillimum. The Golden Tips, though, often serve as a key to unlock the creaky gate to a true treasure.

Stavesacre

The Cyber Delusion

Staphysagria’s Cyber delusion is someone walks behind him (Staph, Sil, Anac, Med and Calc). For the remedies belonging in this rubric, “walking behind him” has different meanings and can be negative or positive. Silica needs a stronger positive force in the outside world to boost his confidence and has also the delusion someone walks besides him. Calc-c needs the same protection to boost his immature and fearful ego (he talks about nothing but murder, fire and rats); he needs a family member or friend to hold his hand as he is anxious that people will observe his confusion and to keep him from falling victim to his Cyber delusion, he is about to sink into annihilation. The person behind him is an assurance that he is supported (“I have your back!”) and protected from everything that can happen on the outside; the person behind him gently nudges him forward from his inert, hesitant attitude. Calc-c needs a little push to spring into action as he mulls things over. Medorrhinum, as he projects his own shadow, is suspicious of everyone (as he is the one hiding certain aspects of his life—the sexual one, for instance) and therefore looks constantly over his shoulder to see if anyone wants to harm him, projecting the darkness and evil of his unconscious onto others. For him, the person behind him is always a threat, someone suspect. In Anacardium’s case, it is an oppressive negative force, a controlling and dominating father figure that brings Anac to the brink of dissociation and schizophrenia. For Lachesis, this delusion is a mixed bag. On one hand, it is negative, as he is often overcome by the CD he is about to receive an injury and he is wronged; he is indeed fearful of bodily harm, like Nat-m, but the accompanying person can also be positive: Lachesis can be under the influence of a powerful being, often one who supplies him with nighttime inspiration for his fertile, active mind. A rather negative aspect of this delusion is that Lachesis gives his power away, projecting it onto a mana personality (for Polynesians, a mana personality is he who is full of power and wisdom) who acts as his guru and life force. Giving his power away will always hinder him on his path to individuation; his individuality is stifled when he subjects himself to the judgments of a more enlightened person. Mag-m, suffering from ailments from deceived friendship and anger, is always anxious and hurried as the peacemaker and caretaker with a strong sense of responsibility; her delusion she is friendless and neglected makes this person walking behind her a rather negative influence. Sanicula, a very touchy and low-energy person who cannot bear to be touched and has a great fear of the darkness, constantly looks behind her like Medorrhinum and feels rather threatened by the dark figure that follows.

What does Staphysagria’s CD mean? Is the shadowy figure a benevolent presence or a threatening one? It looks as if there is always a person walking behind Staphysagria, navigating and controlling her slightest movement. She cannot be herself! In other words, she is constantly letting someone else invade her boundaries, submitting her ego to someone else. The latter is also the essence of the Carcinosin victim, and Staphysagria is the number one associated remedy of Carcinosin. In practice, this means that when a patient is stuck in a Staphysagria situation, he is betraying his own soul and on his way to creating cancer in his body; cancer serves as a final warning for him to change the direction in his life. It is interesting that we find Silica and Calc-c also in the rubric someone walks besides him, indicating in their cases the benevolent character of the shadow person. But we don’t see Staphysagria, Medorrhinum, or Anac in this rubric. Staphysagria’s CD reflects a lack of freedom of choice and of decision-making; someone is shadowing her, but not necessarily in a benevolent and protective way. This is confirmed by other delusions that express how she feels about this guidance: delusion she is pursued; she is persecuted; she is unfortunate; she is criticized; of insults; and she will be murdered.

The fixed ideas of being criticized and belittled and of receiving insults indicate the real character of Staphysagria’s relationship with that shadow figure. There is no talk of being under the influence of a powerful being as there is with the mesmerized Lachesis, who actually derives support and inspiration to follow her chosen path from this delusion. Staphysagria feels persecuted, unfortunate, and that she will be murdered—all expressions of her loss of control over her life. What is already being killed, murdered, and obstructed is her personality and individuality, her freedom of choice. In other words, she is totally dominated, leading to much anxiety and even anguish. Staphysagria never achieves authenticity, as authenticity entails honoring one’s own emotional needs and desires. This control is by a person on whom one is dependent on an ongoing condition, not a question of episodes as it is with Lyssin, who intermittently loses support from the one he depends upon. The Staphysagria person has received so many black eyes in her relationships that it has become part of her persona. The abuse prevalent in Staphysagria has created a permanent state of anxiety, worse even after escaping her cruel reality in a short sleep (anguish after a nap), a state that Staphysagria eventually considers normal. It has become part of her luggage, of her personality, expressed by the delusion past anxious thoughts and things are present. Nothing is forgotten! This fixed idea has become part of her identity! The truth is, though, that some unbearable deeds are too painful to acknowledge, too heartbreaking to face. For this reasons, investigating and understanding recurrent dreams can be a wake-up call for the patient. The Staphysagria person often dreams of being driven in a car with someone else at the wheel of the car, a symbol of her life being directed by others and of her not being in control of her own destiny. Dreams only recur when the patient neglects to listen to the message, just as a bill collector comes back for unpaid bills. Hopefully, through intake of homeopathic Staphysagria, her inner voices will begin issuing stentorian commands.

But what happens initially? How does Staphysagria deal with the shadow figure? Staphysagria is almost like a split personality. On one hand, she endures all this cruelty, control, and criticism; on the other hand, her pride forbids her from reacting to the perpetrator directly and immediately. There is a little voice in her saying: “Don’t react; don’t show your anger.” The delusions, as to the greatness of her body; things appear small and humility of others while she is great (a delusion she has in common with Platina, who really is convinced that she does not belong to this world) tell us that Staphysagria does not want to stoop to the level of the perpetrator. She is above all this, and the little voice in her reminds her that she is a much better person than her antagonist. She chooses the mighty high road, but is this beneficial for her? Only her story will tell! What can be foreseen is that a continuous barrage of insults chips away piece by piece at Staphysagria’s exterior armor.

One of the least known aspects of Staphysagria is haughtiness. The idea that Staph shares the delusion humility of others while she is great with a character like Platina may raise some eyebrows—but, as usual, things are not as they might appear on the surface. This fixed idea must lead to different compensations and probably has an altogether different meaning and causality for each of the two personalities. The roads of these two remedies may share a starting point, but they diverge quickly when Platina and Staphysagria are compared. The delusion humility of others while he is great is a problem of perception for these two as they are both sensation types. They both have this delusion of grandeur and can be haughty, yet the interior distortion behind the delusion could not be more different!

Platina covers her feelings of isolation with a true superiority complex, and the delusion of grandeur comes from a basic belief that she has no equal: delusion, being noble, he is a great person, as if exalted. She can find no one who is her sexual or spiritual equal, and has the delusion, she is alone in the world; delusion, is deserted; and she has no place in the world. Her Achilles heel is her egotism, and the compensation for Platina is that she has developed a very inflated view of herself, leading to the delusion people seem mentally and physically inferior; a delusion, as to greatness of her body; while everything in the room is diminished, while she is tall and elevated; Platina feels enlarged, is very tall; her head is enlarged; is swollen; things appear small, he himself seems too large and on entering the house after walking; everything seems too narrow. These delusions are the mental equivalent of a loss of sense of proportion in ocular vision. In her mental vision, objects seem small, and this makes Platina look down on everyone with pride. She lives to gratify herself as if only she mattered, as if only she were in the world. Her world is truly small, as she seeks to satisfy her passions with no concern for others. The irony in considering herself to have spiritual superiority is that her greed is largely for temporal things: delusion, of wealth. Hers is an egoistic hedonism compounded by narcissism. She can be pompous; feels important, and squanders money; she is a boaster; braggart and ultimately discontented with everything. And so, like a self-fulfilling prophecy, Platina ends up alone in the world. She becomes depressed and tires of the world. As the saying goes, it’s lonely at the top. So it is for this ice witch whose goal is self-glory. This is quite different from Staphysagria’s story as shown before!

 

Causalities

Indignation and Lost Honor

There are many ailments from (A/F) for Staphysagria; however, though many are black type, they are not equally weighted. The primary NWS is ailments from indignation on every level: emotional, mental, and physical; it is for this reason that Staph is known as the rape remedy. A rape can occur on any of these levels and be perpetrated by different people: at home, at work, in different relationships, and even during recreation—we are all familiar with obnoxious coaches! Though being berated at work or benched at a game doesn’t seem life-threatening at first glance, it must be considered that one’s identity is very closely tied to those groups; strong criticism threatens one’s sense of membership as does the fear of exclusion, abandonment, and ostracism. Criticism makes a person feel attacked and unloved, and can be so damaging to a person’s sense of self that it has an effect similar to abuse. One common manifestation of indignation and rudeness, especially in the workplace, is the behavior of the bully boss. Such a boss misuses power and humiliates people in front of others. She can be verbally abusive and overly controlling as she micromanages. He quarrels with his victim and, as he does so, contemptuously and unfairly lobs criticism at his subordinate. At home, a spouse may belittle his mate in front of others—and then insist it is all in good fun, though the victim is seething with rage, heartbreak and mortification. A variant of indignation and hostility is passive aggression, which is demonstrated in such behaviors as dragging one’s heels on a project, remaining silent for a whole day as if the other person is a ghost, failing to respond to a meaningful request, or failing to disclose useful and necessary information to a colleague. As can be seen, instances of rape are more common on the mental/emotional levels than on the physical level, the one most often associated with this hideous crime. There is even the unjust loss of position (meaning losing one’s job to suit the financial interests of the stockholders and CEO of the company, common in today’s corporate environment), which can be considered an ailment from indignation that turns Staphysagria into an individual who cannot support injustice, into a remedy picture of Causticum, bent on vengeance to even the score.

The perpetrator’s control of Staphysagria can be so extreme that the victim loses all self-esteem, loses touch with reality, and lives in a daze with the delusion, everything looks strange and familiar things look strange. The controlling person, who always possesses a syphilitic streak to bolster his own fragile ego, seeks out his victim and exerts his power through rudeness, insensitivity, and cold-blooded control, even under the banner and persona of professionalism (ailments from rudeness of others; from mortification with indignation; from reproaches; from honor wounded; from embarrassment). The perpetrator’s goal is always the same: to damage the self-esteem and self-worth of his victim, to make her feel ashamed of herself as a member of society and to reassure that the animus in the victim is nothing but a silent, obedient and subservient dwarf, an entity “happy” to live a voiceless life! It is sheer manipulation and signals insensitivity and, often, cruelty in an individual. Sometimes, a perpetrator uses her own disease to control and tie her victim to her, appealing to an exaggerated and misplaced sense of duty on the part of the victim. Unless Staphysagria can escape from her situation, these negative events remain with her: she suffers grief from long past offenses and dwells on past disagreeable events (Nat-m). For Nat-m, dwelling on these sad thoughts can serve as the motivation for her career as a crusader or a reason to live. For Staphysagria—and here is the difference between Staph and Nat-m—dwelling on past injustices only creates yielding, submissive, and resigned behavior in later stages, building up inner pressure (ailments from suppressed anger, even resulting in headaches from grief (also Ign, Aur, Calc, Puls) and making her, because of the weight of psychogenic causes, the most likely remedy to become a cancer victim in the future. As Jung often asserted, Nature will visit you with a disease if you suppress your emotions!

There is also a kind of physical rape unknown to allopathy and the public in general. Often, a patient who has undergone surgery complains of pain at the site of the incision for months or even years afterwards. The body, psychologically, is rejecting the assault—just like the assault of frequent catheterization is expressed by recurrent bladder infections. You can imagine what is done allopathically to alleviate pain in the scar: doctors open it in precisely the same place, adding a second rape incident. Don’t use remedies such as Bell-p, Arnica, or Calendula in this case as they do not reflect the emotional NWS of the “crime.” They do not take the totality of the patient into account. Staphysagria is indicated!

Disappointment and Silent Grief

An example from my practice shows how such a NWS has lifelong consequences—not only for the victim, but also for other family members, imprinting the crime of indignation on others and perpetuating the emotional state—leading in turn to its trans-generational continuation. For women, a negative experience with the father leads to a malformation of the animus (corresponding to the paternal Logos and dominant thinking function) and can be responsible for a Staphysagria state.

I had a patient who experienced extreme discord with, and even hatred for, her father because he cheated on her mother who did not stand up for herself; the strife was so serious that, from a young age, she developed a hatred towards men in general (due to a negative experience on the formation of her animus). Unbeknownst to her, she became just like her hated father. This patient was successful in business (showing the strength of her animus) and married for the first time at age 40; she soon divorced and then married a younger person, whom she dominated in the same way that she and her mother had been dominated by her father. Obviously she got tired of this relationship too. She told me that an inner voice was telling her that all men were alike and that she could trust no man. If she married she would only repeat the tragic experience of her mother. Her hatred of men, first aroused by her experience with her father, dominated her feelings so strongly that her idea about her father became her impression of all men. Whenever a real man came into her life, she projected this father image onto him. She was estranged from her father, but his image still ruled her mind, as could be seen in her behavior toward the second man she married. She had pretended to take on the role of a woman while unconsciously adopting the attitudes of a man. In some cultures, it would be said of such a woman that she was possessed by the ghost of a man. In one sense, she became a man; in another, she tried to assert her superiority over men, which undermined her feeling function. It made it impossible for her really to be a woman, especially in any relationship with a man. In marriage, she always struggled for supremacy, just as she was doing in business. She refused to listen to the woman’s voice within herself, which could have told her that her hatred and bitterness toward her father had permeated her attitude toward all men, squashing her feeling function. By some strange law of the antipathy of similars, she loathed her father not because she was so different from him, but because in some ways she was so much like him.

Not unexpectedly, her disgust for men might have been lurking in her unconscious, which can only be revealed by a dream, the messenger of her unconscious; her chief complaint, though, severe pain and bladder infection after each sexual encounter (bladder, cystitis, in newlywed women), revealed the hidden disdain and repulsion she felt towards men, experienced as physical violation or rape. In the case of a negative father complex leading to a distorted animus, as was the case with this patient, there often are various disturbances of the sexual function/genitourinary tract: for instance, menstrual disorders, aversion to sex, lack of libido, painful coition or vaginismus, and honeymoon cystitis because the anima has been injured. In this patient, a typical Staphysagria situation was created through the disappointment, the suppressed anger with silent grief and anger with indignation.

Compensations

How does Staphysagria cope with this cruelty in her life? Does she react vehemently? Does she find anything positive in her bleak life as does Nat-m, a remedy often confused with Staphysagria? Can she find a balance between her pride and healthy reactions, helping her to stand up for herself in front of her abuser?

Escape into a Dream World: Delusion, of Fancy Illusions

It is not unusual for a Staphysagria person to be abused, dominated, and even prevented from communication with the outside world. Staph feels more and more incapable of connecting to people (because of shyness, shame, embarrassment, brainwashing, self-reproach, secrets, etc.) and, consequently, flees into a dream world to create imaginary friends and lovers. Nat-c, Nat-mur, and Staphysagria are all examples of this tendency. Each of them has fixed ideas on the same theme of fancy illusions. Note that these personalities all bear the hallmark of loneliness and isolation. Staphysagria is absent-minded in a dreamy state; additionally, all three personalities are often estranged to some degree from their family, which creates great grief. Staphysagria dreams or daydreams—not only about a different world, but also about an ideal lover (amorous). She may concoct a platonic love for someone she admires—her neighbor, a coworker, or her homeopath; however, she may also fantasize about someone whom she has never met, such as a singer with a beautiful voice. Kind words from her treating homeopath can easily catalyze the process of transference, in which he will now replace her father, lover, or friend—sometimes a hindrance to true healing.

Rather than reaching out to others, Staphysagria isolates herself so much in her dream world that, in spite of being a lonely person, she has aversion to the presence of other people; she desires solitude, and even has aversions to all persons, preferring to indulge in her created escape world although she follows such indulgences with self-reproach (reproaching herself from indulging to sexual fantasies—only remedy, referring also to her masturbation tendency). Lingering in her reveries allows her to dream about a different future. As the real world has no authentic meaning for her, the escape into the fabricated artificial world creates a ray of hope; it is for this reason that we often see a changeable behavior in Staphysagria: she is discouraged alternating with courage and hope. Her escape is so complete that she can neglect her family to indulge in her fancies (another reason for estrangement from her family): escape from her family and children on waking; thinks she had fancies happened, even preventing sleep. And to artificially inflate her subdued ego, when in company, she always speaks about herself. All these exaggerated mental efforts lead to another secondary NWS: ailments from mental exertion.

Religion and Sex

Religion is another possible positive tool for Staph; she does not use it to the extent that characters like Aurum, Lachesis, Platina, Hyoscyamus or Verat-a do, but she does experience anxiety about salvation—like Lachesis, praying to God to relieve her from this hellish life, and experiencing anxiety, scrupulous as to her religious practices. Tested so harshly in daily life, she also fears to lose her religious faith.

Where religion is used as a positive tool, sex is never far away. Look at remedies like Platina, Lachesis, Lil-t, and Kali-br, characters that fluctuate between these two compensation states before falling into one or the other. Staphysagria is no exception. But Staphysagria’s timidity, lack of confidence, low self-worth, damaged ego, and especially his aversion to all persons and to the opposite sex, can turn the sexual libido inwards and results in excessive masturbation. Only Platina and Origanum mast-urbate more than Staphysagria. It creates a secondary NWS, ailments from sexual excesses, creating dullness of the mind after masturbation, a NWS loss of fluids creating a significant weakening of her Vital Force. Masturbation is another escape route for Staphysagria, one that allows her to fantasize about the ideal person (persistent sexual thoughts intrude leading to libertinism and lascivious behavior), but, as mentioned above, these thoughts do not lead to overt sexual behavior as with Hyosc, Plat, Phos, Sel, Orig, and Fl-ac. While Platina will actively pursue the search for the ideal soul mate, Staphysagria will create him in her dream world, since she is highly excitable and easily aroused by these sexual thoughts. This is a set-up for inevitable failure; Staphysagria often suffers from disappointed love as she always becomes very timid whenever she meets someone she is romantically interested in and cannot make any overtures! In TCM, this indicates that she has a deficient Gall Bladder (the organ that provides the courage to make decisions).

It is important to note that masturbation is not one-dimensional and does not always carry the same motivations and consequences; likewise, one must investigate the motivations for masturbation, both in the conscious and the unconscious. The motive of Staphysagria is clear: unable to access—or afraid of—the natural act (because of rape, indignity, or platonic love), she resorts often to masturbation. The greatest danger of masturbation (besides the loss of fluids leading to asthenia) is that it tends to isolate. It provides the person with a means of short-circuiting his emotions without experiencing any partnership at all; she remains in isolation with her sex instinct, and the expression of this isolation is masturbation. And then there is the psychological impact: the hangover which generally follows the act of masturbation is an expression of the guilt that arises when one flees from the normal directional experience to the non-directional experience (reproaches herself, from indulging to sexual fantasies, only remedy). With each return to masturbation, the sense of guilt is deepened, and so a vicious cycle is formed with constantly increasing isolation and guilt.

Staph’s conscientiousness about trifles refers to the exaggerated importance she places on small things: even when someone says hello to her to be nice, she believes that he loves her. Small gestures such as opening the door for Staph are blown out of proportion, and the other party has no inkling of Staphysagria’s thoughts and interpretations. (This also makes us think of Ignatia.) These disappointments, persistent sexual thoughts, and fantasies, along with excitability about trifles, lead to excessive masturbation. Masturbation, in turn, can quickly degenerate into lasciviousness and enjoyment beyond what is normal, therefore creating dis-ease as well as ailments from sexual excesses and confusion. Staphysagria becomes a hypochondriac from masturbation, even driving her to suicide while she can become indifferent in general and indisposed to talk!

Avoidance of Direct Confrontation

Staphysagria relentlessly looks for outlets such as masturbation, religion, and escape into a dream world to relieve his built-up pressure and pent-up anger. Staphysagria has a moral superiority complex, a delusion of grandeur that comes from her pathological suppression of emotions. This moral superiority complex serves to cover feelings of deep guilt, humiliation, or shame: delusion, she has committed a crime. On the other hand, she feels that she can and must always remain dignified, and to Staphysagria this means refraining from showing anger. She is a person with a Victorian manner, a vestige of a time when anger and contradiction were considered evil and when their existence was not acknowledged in outstanding people. But the suppression of such feelings threatens to invade and poison her conscious life. Staphysagria has the delusion, she is criticized; she becomes indignant and yet believes it is beneath her to express any anger: delusion, everything beneath him seems too low down. The egoistic pride of a Staphysagria does not permit her to stoop to expressing negative feelings! She does not become angry in the presence of the perpetrator (yielding). The Staphysagria person, who is excitable and easily aroused to anger, seldom manifests this openly and does not fight back; rather, she wilts and wishes to avoid confrontation if at all possible (Lyc). Confrontation is too painful, and it hurts her pride, so she quickly learns to submit rather than fight. She throws out no harsh words like Nat-m or Lachesis; unlike Causticum, she controls her thoughts of correcting injustices through active deeds. Staph will do anything to please; she does not react in the presence of the perpetrator and indulges in self-reproach (delusion, she is unfortunate). When she reproaches others and shows hatred to those who have offended, it is done in silence as her sense of moral superiority dictates. Staphysagria must realize that there is a right way to rock the boat, to be assertive, determined, courageous and rational, to express “spirit and breath” and to stop worrying about the approval of others—regardless of her social position.

The problem is that this timid, quiet person develops a judgmental and self-righteous attitude (delusion, himself seems too large). She judges others just as  rigidly as she does herself: she reproaches others, is overly sensitive to rudeness, and is sensitive to moral impressions. Superficially, she is initially yielding because she really fears anger and confrontation. But this compensation, that she is too dignified to fight, backfires when she erupts at times and may even throw things in anger, usually when alone at home—and so begins the cycle, once again, of shame and self-loathing (usually from past psychological or sexual abuse). She keeps what she feels to herself, and her overdeveloped sense of righteousness is enough to destroy her life. In the end, she may stay in an abusive relationship like a martyr or, at any rate, subjugate her desires. Staphysagria is trapped in her own pride. While Platina has a pathological desire for spirituality, sex, and pleasure, Staphysagria has a pathological desire to please others.

Staphysagria’s life is a struggle for survival; it is a life of hiding. The reality is that she cannot stand up for herself or move forward (delusion, someone is behind her; she is falling backward; his legs would go out from under him–only Staph!). Legs are a symbol, in dreams, for moving forward on the path of individuation; legs are the support system that allows a person to follow life’s libido. Staphysagria, obviously, often lacks the legs to move forward and be her own person; she is afraid for anyone to see her weakness and exert power over her, and it is for that reason that she exhibits a moral superiority toward others. Thus, she compensates with the delusion, as to greatness of body and with humility and lowness of others while she is great. She fears losing self-control and therefore keeps herself tightly in check and in line with what she considers proper; in this way, she convinces herself that she transcends those who, to her, are base: Staphysagria’s delusion of grandeur is that she is above those abusers who are small and vexatious as well as those she perceives to be rude and non-virtuous, as they are beneath her moral level. Staphysagria has been wounded so thoroughly in life that she is not able to be indifferent, to refuse to show disapproval, or to let go of her attachment to feeling superior to the non-virtuous. Unfortunately, Staphysagria does not realize that her judgments of others are often as brutal (abusive, insulting; critical) as those to which she has been subjected all too often in her life (ailments from mortification).

Whether the Staph patient is right or wrong, she swallows her pride and goes on with her daily activities. She does not allow her indignation to be expressed naturally—they are too dignified to fight (delusion humility of others while she is great—this is her form of haughtiness). Instead, he goes home sick or goes to bed trembling with a pale and livid face and exhausted, suffering from pride, envy or chagrin. Once at home, out of sight and safely away from the scene of the crime, she might throw things, but she still gets sick from the conflicts around her (rudeness, ailments from). Hering captures the essence of Staphysagria: there is great indignation about things done by others and grieving about the consequences. This leads easily to fear of losing control, and even fear of losing her reason.

It becomes very clear that Staphysagria is indicated in those states in which anger is not fully expressed. I wish to emphasize “not fully expressed” because Staphysagria is useful not only where anger has been totally suppressed but also when it is seldom or partially expressed. Kent says it differently: “One who is in good health can easily put aside a controversy, knowing that he has done what is right, but a Staph patient when he has to control himself goes all to pieces, trembles from head to foot, loses his voice, his ability to work, cannot sleep and a headache follows.”[1]

Resignation in Final Stage

In resignation, one admits the facts of a situation but claims an inability to do anything about it owing to what one perceives as constraining or overwhelming circumstances. The intent is to escape into a dream world or to give up. As mentioned before, the Staphysagria person will never confront her abuser about his undignified actions. The question, then, is how to awaken the resigned, suppressed person, be it your patient or family member, so that her moral superiority can be converted and transformed into a self-preserving action: only judiciously applied homeopathic Staphysagria can do so! Note that homeopathic Staphysagria can bring a person into a Causticum state; she may now do more than stand up to the abuser: she may become an active fighter for others in similar circumstances. The sequence of remedies Staphysagria—Colocynthis—Causticum can bring the victim into a normal balance before the extreme violence of Causticum takes over. Well-adjusted doses of Staphysagria have a remarkable tendency to evoke dreams about battles and murder and dreams full of bitterness. Even more commonly, dreams appear in which the patient finds herself now at the wheel of her car instead of sitting in the back seat, symbolizing her decision to finally determine the course of her life. Such dreams offer Staph encouragement to stand up for herself, and this encouragement can change the victim into a fighter who no longer takes abuse. The intake of homeopathic Staphysagria often leads to many badly needed divorces, helping the victim to find the courage to act. Without effective homeopathic treatment, the Staphysagria person does not speak out; rather, she suppresses her emotions and then suffers for it. She accepts inconvenience and injustice, but she cannot escape their influence: horrible things and sad stories influence her greatly. If no help is available, resignation often replaces resentment as the dominant emotion, especially given that she also suffers from weakness of memory for places, for what she is about to say, often a result of these unmerited insults. There is none of the bitterness and hatred we find in Nat-m or Nit-ac—only acceptance of her fate.

At the end of life, people who have not had the courage and strength to express their feelings regret it deeply. Sartre said, “An essential freedom is the ability to say no.” Certainly Staphysagria does not say no as often as she should. It is hard for her to demand and assume the role of an equal partner in a relationship, but subjecting oneself to the constraints of constant acquiescence can be incredibly depleting. Staphysagria never honestly articulates her feelings, which in the end results in festering resentment, a corrosive bitterness (anger, throws things away), or complete resignation. None of these provides the real sense of lightness for which we strive in life: the knowledge that one does not need to suppress feelings, that the receiver will accept our expressions with love and consideration. This brings Staphysagria back to her Cyber delusion that someone is always right behind her, a permanent controlling shadow—and unfortunately, her suppressed anger and resignation will lead to many strong physical expressions such as chorea, with uncontrollable shaking of the head and trembling of the extremities, “tic nerveux” in children, chattering of the teeth, impotence (as well as Lycopodium, the most indicated remedy), prostate suffering, spasmodic pains in vulva and vagina, stitching headaches and stitching heart pains (like Kali-c), and griping twisting pain in the abdomen and extremities. These illnesses are often the sole reason for consulting the physician, and they indicate the intensity of suppressed emotions that are finding their only outlet on the physical plane. In addition to homeopathic doses of Staphysagria, dreams (as discussed above) often offer encouragement to Staphysagria to stand up for herself.

Examples from the Practice

A clear-cut example of the silent suffering of Staphysagria is the case of an elderly woman treated for an angry, itching, torturous eczema. When I asked how she acts when angry, she said with a sweet, convincing smile, “I never get angry.”Through further questioning though I discovered that her husband had had an affair with a younger woman at the office, gone on vacation with her, and had even offered to get a divorce from his wife (but his mistress wanted no commitment). By accident, my elderly patient had found all this out, but she never even told her husband that she knew. From that point in time, she had developed an intensely angry-looking, red, and inflamed psoriasis that covered her torso, front and back! In her delusion, she believed she was morally above her husband, his lover, and the affair, so she did not even mention it. But emotions that can’t be consciously expressed have to find a place in the dark unconscious, torturing and keeping the unfortunate patient captive, resulting into the expression of excruciating skin problems.

In another very graphic Staphysagria case, a man took his son to a baseball game and was utterly disgusted by the drunken, loud fans sitting behind them. He could not confront them, because, as he expressed it, that would be beneath him, and he wanted to set an example for his son. Then insult upon insult came when they spilled beer and even vomited on him. That night, while sleeping on the couch (his wife and he were not getting along), he felt as if hot oil were being poured over his head (such burning indignation!), and the hair all over his body fell out (alopecia universalis). There is nothing grand about the inability to voice anger when it is called for; it simply leads to the silent suffering of the morally haughty Staphysagria.

The direct consequences of lack of grit can be seen in the case of a patient who retired and was taking care of his wife, who was suffering from manic depression. His only hobby was dancing in a club once a week, but his wife was very critical of him whenever he took another partner although she herself was too tired to dance. If he went somewhere without her, she always made him feel guilty and isolated herself from him. Whatever he did for her at home was never good enough. She said, “You do everything for others but nothing for me,” which of course was not the truth. But she stayed in bed and demanded that everything be done for her. Because of her continuous criticism and rudeness, he stopped attending the weekly dance, which caused him great grief and disappointment. Shortly after this, tics appeared around his mouth; he was plagued by the twitching, as well as by chattering of the teeth—to the extent that food would come out of his mouth while he was eating. This led to further social isolation, as it caused him great embarrassment. Finding no healthy outlet for the suppressed anger, Nature had punished him with the deepest pathology of the central nervous system: tics and twitching.

Golden Tips from the Masters

  • Closest remedy to Staph is Carcinosin, with ailments from domination. Staphysagria is the #1 concordant remedy of Carcinosin
  • Easily offended by the slightest word or action which she feels is directed to her (admonition aggravates)
  • Peculiar symptom: swallowing while speaking (only Staph)
  • Bulimia because of low self-worth
  • Because of the sweetness and yielding, it can be confused with Pulsatilla, but there is much more suppressed anger in Staph
  • Staphysagria women can lose their libido because of too many cystoscopies, catheterizations, or gynecological investigations
  • #1 for honeymoon cystitis
  • #1 for styes on eyelids after suppressed anger
  • #1 for prevention of mosquito bites
  • Staphysagria gets physical symptoms from vexation: headaches, stomach pain, trembling lips, chronic cough, and abdominal pain. Children hit themselves after vexation/indignation
  • Is a marvelous remedy for injuries to sexual organs
  • Pain in the coccyx after a fall (Hyper)
  • Loss of hair because of indignation and suppressed anger (compare to loss of hair in Ignatia after shock or hearing bad news, and in Ph-ac after grief)
  • Smarting sore pain in the inner canthi of the eye in a patient who has never had anything wrong with her eye
  • Lice in hair (also Psorinum)

NOTE: This book is only available from Dr Luc’s website. To order go to www.drluc.com in his bookstore. A 4.2 lbs book, total of 658 pages, 49 remedy pictures. Or Quickly order here


[1] Kent, Lectures, 895.

About the author

Luc De Schepper

Luc De Schepper, M.D., Ph.D., Lic.Ac., C.Hom., is a licensed physician and acupuncturist in Europe (since 1971) and the US. (since 1982). He studied and practiced homeopathy extensively for many years, wrote 15 textbooks of homeopathy, alternative medicine and acupuncture and has the largest school of homeopathy in the US. He spends part of his time helping the poor in South Africa, Kenya and Sri Lanka and teaches all around the world, lately bringing homeopathy to China. For more information visit www.drluc.com

2 Comments

  • Great book for homeopathic practitioners and students. Luc De Schepper presents clear images of different remedies, taking the reader to the essence of it. He describes how the language of the patient has to be translated into repertorium rubrics. On his path to the core of the remedy, he sticks to the information found in classical provings, no nonsense about dream provings or intuitive provings…
    A must-have for all dedicated homeopaths!

Leave a Comment