Materia Medica

The Soul of Remedies: Stramonium

stramonium
Written by Rajan Sankaran

Dr. Rajan Sankaran shares his remedy portrait of Stramonium.

Stramonium is a plant remedy that belongs to the acute miasm. It is a remedy that tends to be overprescribed because it deals with one of the most basic fears of man, the feeling of being left alone in the wilderness.

The Stramonium patient feels helpless, like a child left alone, and there is an impression of danger. 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 recognize who is around him, he just clings to whoever or whatever is there (“Child awakens terrified, knows no one, screams, clings to those near”; “Clinging to persons, furniture”).

He doesn’t seem to know anyone around him or recognize anything around him in this situation of terror (“Familiar things seem strange”). He feels alone, lost and tries to escape from this situation. He is without support and is crying for help, begging, entreating, praying in his panic. All he wants is to be in a safe and secure place.

Stramonium has “Fear, of darkness” and “Desire, for light”. Darkness represents uncertainty, hopelessness, and any such situation is very scary for the Stramonium patient. In the darkness, there is a possibility of danger and Stramonium has a “Longing for sunshine, light and society”. Stramonium has delusions of dogs attacking him, biting his chest: a terrifying situation.

To the Stramonium patient all events, situations and even people seem like dogs (“Delusion, dogs, sees”), like an attack. There is a feeling of being injured (“Delusion, injury, is about to receive”), as if things around him are harmful and injurious. The patient will tell the physician: “Doctor, I took your medicine last week, and since then my stomach got badly upset, I cannot tell you how much!”

He gets most frightened when things are dark, gloomy and sombre. When there is no danger, darkness or gloominess, the Stramonium person may be talking, laughing, singing, full of life, dancing (“Black and sombre, aversion to everything that is”, “Weeping all night, laughing all day”).

He talks a lot about himself, boasts that he is bold, not afraid of anything (“Delusion, tall, he is”, “Delusion, distinguished, he is”, “Delusion, divine, he is”). But with the night comes terror and clinging. At the same time, when there is light, there is a fear of being exposed, of being vulnerable to attack, and then there is a desire for darkness. But when the patients are uncertain about something they want light – fear of the unknown.

Stramonium has the rubric: “Destructiveness of clothes, naked, wants to be”. Nothing should be hidden under clothes, nothing should be in the dark. Also there is “Delusion, naked, he is”: unprotected, he feels without the protective covering of clothes, vulnerable to attack.

In his terror and fright, he reacts wildly: “Wildness”, “Destructiveness”, “Violence”, “Striking”. His whole situation including his ailments frighten him so much that he doesn’t want it to ever surface again. He wants to finish it off, to eradicate, destroy, exterminate it (“Delusion, that he is the devil”, “Delusion, devils, sees”, “Kill, desire to”). His problems trouble and scare him and he wants to finish them. His actions are always total.

Another rubric is “Religious affections, Bible, wants to read all the day”. He needs a book of authority in which he trusts and to which he constantly clings in order to avoid the uncertainty and darkness which he feels around him. He feels like a child without support and has anxiety about salvation.

He will say: “Doctor, wherever you go, please don’t stay away for more than a week, otherwise I will be lost. If something happens, where can I go?” Anxiety about salvation as if they have lost your support, the person on whom they are dependent will leave and they will be left alone in the wilderness, forsaken.

Another rubric is “Delusion, wife is faithless”. There is a fear that the person with whom he shares a trustful relationship (the basis of his security) will leave and go away, leaving him alone, helpless, in the dark. This trustful relationship need not be only with the spouse, it could be with the doctor, with his guru, etc.

Among the concomitants of Stramonium, I have found a desire for or an aversion to the colour black.

Rubrics:

o Delusion, is alone in the wilderness.

o Clings, child awakens terrified, knows no one, clings to those near.

o Delusion, animals jump out of the ground.

o Delusion, of black objects and people.

o Delusions, dogs attack him, of biting his chest.

o Delusion, that she is always alone.

o Delusion, frightful animals.

o Delusion, sees devils.

o Delusion, is being injured.

o Delusion, sees scepters, ghosts, spirits, on closing eyes.

o Delusion, familiar things seem strange.

o Escape, attempts to.

o Kill, desire to.

o Fear, in the dark.

o Fear, of being injured.

o Longing for sunshine, light and society.

o Weeping, weeps all night and laughs all day.

o Company, desire for, alone, while, aggravates.

o Begging, entreating.

o Praying nights.

o Religious affections, Bible wants to read all the day.

o Helplessness, feeling of.

o Black and sombre, aversion to everything that is.

o Delusion, naked, he is.

Kent:

o Speech: stammering, exerts himself a long time before he can utter a word.

Phatak:

o Religious insanity.

o Shrieking for help (my observation).

o Strangers, presence of, aggravates.

If you would like to learn more about Dr. Sankaran’s work, courses and lectures please visit:   http://www.onlinehmp.com

To read about the philosophical approach to developing these remedy pictures, see Dr. Sankaran’s introduction to Soul of Remedies:                https://hpathy.com/homeopathy-papers/soul-of-remedies/

About the author

Rajan Sankaran

Rajan Sankaran, MD (Hom), is reputed to be a clear and original thinker and is best known for his path breaking concepts in Homoeopathy. His understanding of ‘disease as a delusion’ followed by his discovery of newer miasms, classification of diseased states into kingdoms and the seven levels of experience, brought in much more clarity into understanding diseased states. The Sensation method has now evolved into a more comprehensive and synergistic approach, which strongly advocates to encompass and integrate the old, classical and traditional approaches with the latest advances.

Dr. Sankaran heads ‘the other song—International Academy of Advanced Homoeopathy’, in Mumbai. This academy primarily focuses on imparting advanced clinical training to students and practitioners, integrated with a homoeopathic healing centre. Also he has his own personal clinic at Juhu area of Mumbai, India. He is also the President of Synergy Homeopathic, which is dedicated to the development of reliable, comprehensive homeopathic software and teaching tools. www.theothersong.com www.sankaransclinic.com www.synergyhomeopathic.com

4 Comments

  • Dr. Sankaran,
    Thank you so much for your wonderful article on Stramonium.
    In describing this important remedy, you wrote that it has “delusion that animals are jumping out of the ground” and “delusion, sees devils.” Is it possible that these delusions are sometimes combined? My relative had the delusion that demons were popping up out of the ground so he had to stomp on them.

  • Respected sir,
    Your path breaking approach in homeopathy is superb and more helpful to patients in compare with routine and orthodox approach of other homeopath
    thank you.

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