Repertory › Remedies in the repertory

Anacardium orientale (Anac.)

Anacardium orientale (Anac.) appears in the repertory in 1,497 rubrics. Of these, 67 are single-remedy rubrics in which only this remedy is listed, and 144 are small rubrics with at most two other remedies. The emphasis lies clearly on Delusions (161), followed by Children, Fear, Ailments from mortification, Anxiety, Memory, Speech, and Anger. They yield the picture of a divided person: two wills, two existences, or two voices, one good and one evil, quarrel within him, violence breaks out suddenly and ends in remorse, and the relationship to God, religion, and morality is under pressure.

The Division of the Will

The central experience is duality. Single-remedy rubrics describe the feeling of having two wills, one commanding what the other forbids; quarreling with oneself; the delusion of being double, in which the inner person urges the outer one to get up and the outer one is only loosely slipped on. Small rubrics add: double consciousness, two existences, mind and body are separated, the mind has separated from the body, thoughts are separated from the will, and irresolute will and contradictory impulses. The delusion of being God and then the devil again, the self-image as demoniac or as Jesus, and the feeling of being possessed also belong here. The person does not experience himself as a unity but as the stage on which opposing agencies contend.

Devil, Angel, and Voices

The division takes on a moral form. Several single-remedy rubrics describe a devil sitting at the nape of the neck and urging indecent things, or speaking into one ear and urging murder while an angel speaks into the other and advises deeds of kindness. Further delusions concern whispering: blasphemous words attributed to the devil, and a single-remedy rubric records that someone is whispering blasphemy. Voices call the person by name, command a crime, demand stealing and killing, compel confessions of deeds never committed, and speak in abusive, obscene language. In delirium tremens there is, in addition, a loud voice in the right back of the head accusing the sufferer of blasphemy. The figures are often companions: two strange figures walk to the left and right of the person, and in mirrors the faces of everyone appear except his own.

Damnation and Persecution

Another group revolves around guilt, curse, and threat. The person feels condemned, believes the soul cannot be saved, that he is cursed or bewitched and cannot break the spell, that he is the object of divine vengeance and lost to the world, beyond all hope. He believes he is not honest, is being spied upon, is pursued by something terrible, is existentially threatened, and that even a trifle will lead to great difficulties. Images of death are added: lying on a bier, being in the grave, being near a corpse. While walking, suspicion arises, and an impulse to run appears because the person believes himself pursued. At the same time, delusions of persecution extend into the alien: the spouse is not his own, the child is not his own, a stranger is at his side.

Anger, Violence, and Remorse

The anger is violent and breaks out at the slightest insult. Recorded are indecent, lewd, and violent speech, threatening speech, cursing and swearing, abusing even the best friends, destructiveness alternating with fear, and hatred of persons who have offended. The desire to kill is directed at people who contradict, and fear of killing someone is recorded just as fear of one's own anger. A single-remedy rubric describes a compulsive malice, even toward loved ones, and in children it occurs during whooping cough. The sequence is striking: anger is followed by remorse, quarrelsomeness likewise, and the person apologizes earnestly. Violence alternates with mildness, gentleness, and tenderness. Also noteworthy are cruelty to animals, insensibility to punishment, and mercilessness even toward the closest family. The violence is not a lasting state but an outburst followed by conscience.

Mortification and Humiliation

The ailments from scolding, insult, mortification, and humiliation (45 "Ailments from" rubrics) affect adults and children; they combine with indignation and mortifying punishment. Memory suffers from mortification, from vexation, from fright, after sunstroke, after apoplexy, and after meningitis. A single-remedy rubric describes a vain, constant striving for love and recognition. Rubrics on despair about work, hypochondriasis in the morning, and absent spirituality fit this. The mortification stands at the beginning of the spiral of rage, violence, and remorse.

Speech and Time

Speech is strikingly differentiated: the speech is more definite and firmer in the afternoon than in the morning, the voice becomes deeper after eating, answers are curt but correct, and speech is lost in amnesia. There is an aversion to speaking. The relation to time is also disturbed, as the person confuses the present with the future. Eating ameliorates many states: fear, anger, discouragement, and delirium are better after eating. The afternoon brings relief from dullness, forgetfulness, and laziness, but also from reserve. The temporal structure is unusually precise.

Summary

In the repertory, Anacardium orientale appears as a remedy of inner division. Two wills, two voices, and two existences wrestle with each other, devil and angel speak at once, and the person feels condemned, persecuted, or separated from God. Mortification leads to outbursts of rage in which the desire to kill occurs, yet remorse follows the outburst. It is the picture of a person whose conscience and drives do not find unity.

A reference work for professionals; it does not replace diagnosis or treatment.