Repertory › Remedies in the repertory

Belladonna (Bell.)

Belladonna (Bell.) appears in 2,672 rubrics in the Repertory. Of these, 248 are single-remedy rubrics in which only this remedy is listed, and 247 are small rubrics with at most two other remedies. The emphasis lies on Delusions, Delirium, Fear, Children, Gestures, Raving, and Insanity. The picture emerges of a person in whom excitement, flood of images, and rage break out suddenly and just as suddenly turn into moaning, indifference, or cheerfulness; behind this stand a lightness in dealing with serious matters and a tendency to conceal.

King-Pin Symptoms

Three king-pin symptoms give the remedy its center. "Frivolous" originally means the flippant: serious matters are not taken seriously, complaints receive no due attention, the attitude is rather optimistic. "Light – desire for" can be read as a wish for brightness, hope, and a light side of things. The third, "Hiding – objects", is at the same time a single-remedy rubric. It describes not a closed nature but a temporary, often playful withholding of things, intentions, or facts, which is later uncovered. In the same direction points the rubric according to which hiding serves to maintain the high degree of attention, and "Hiding – hides simulating".

Delusions

The Delusions are the most extensive field, colorful, threatening, and often grotesque: ghosts in flames, animals in the fire, masks laughing at night in bed, giants, turtles in the room, bats and bulls. The own body appears brown-spotted, head and nose transparent or collapsing between the thighs. The bed becomes the scene of the deception: someone wants to take away the cover or to push the bed up and down. Danger comes from outside; strangers grab at the person, a policeman is the doctor, one has stabbed someone. Alongside stand cheerful-fantastic figures: the person is a juggler or magician, rides on an ox, or is "Delusions – poor, but rich". The alternation between health and illness also becomes a delusion, and the feeling of being well stands beside the feeling of utmost sickness.

Delirium

The delirium expresses itself above all physically. The eyes are bloodshot or protruding, the face livid, the carotids pulsate, the limbs twist, the arms are thrown about, there are grimaces, wild laughter, and a tendency to strike. The delirious person runs about in a shirt, throws herself/himself from a height, and tries to urinate on the floor or beside the toilet. To this picture of restless violence belongs the rubric "Delirium – climbs on walls", as do the rubrics in which the delirium alternates with raving, lamenting, or lethargy. A separate line leads to blessing and praying: blessing is asked for, or prayer is made from fear of being killed.

Raving, Mania, and Insanity

The rage is accompanied by a fixed, staring look, turns around in bed, fails to recognize relatives, and flares up on forcible administration of a medicine. The mania drives to spitting and biting, to scratching the own body, and to jumping over chairs and tables; it alternates with loathing. The desire to bite ranges from biting from madness to biting the father, and tearing the own skin with the teeth is listed. Suicidal disposition occurs in the open air and in mania, and the raving alternates with the wish to die. Sensitiveness to touch is shown by the rubric "Rabies, hydrophobia – touch renews the attack"; associated with hydrophobia are grasping and restlessness at the sight of drinks.

Fear, Anxiety, and Fright

Fear turns against animals, also imaginary and black ones, against bystanders, against the approach of others, which provokes starting, and against the putrefaction of the own body. Anxiety is connected with pressure on the chest, with the feeling of having to fly away, and in alternation with mania and raving. Fright shows itself as sudden starting and in confused, irrational speech. Anguish and the wish for death merge into each other.

Alternation of States

Alternation runs through the whole picture. Anxiety and mania, oversensitiveness and indifference, moaning and singing, sighing and dancing, dullness and weak sight succeed each other. As counterpart stands a small stock of rubrics on rest: "Rest – desires rest, but not quiet and peace" and the desire to find peace in sleep. They can be read as longing for deliverance from the excitement.

Speech, Sounds, and Senses

Speech is exaggerated and overdone in delirium, delirious in sleep, incoherent in the evening, and confused under fright; painful speaking is also listed. The voice expresses itself in croaking and quacking in sleep, moaning with every breath, and moaning in brain diseases. The senses are overstimulated, especially to noise, even to the own voice. Coma brings rattling respiration, heat of the skin, and irregular pulse. On the whole a body is suggested that is completely seized by the excitement.

Children and Attention

In children appear taking possession, striking the own face and abdomen, sudden bending backward with screaming, and an aversion to music while nursing. Related are the rubrics in which attention is demanded excessively and the exaggeration of problems is used to obtain maximum attention. In keeping with this is a trait of self-presentation: decent, well-mannered, self-respecting, and not vulgar.

Summary

Belladonna appears in the Repertory as a remedy of sudden discharge, in which images, rage, and physical expression collide, while the king-pin symptoms point to a light, hopeful basic attitude inclined to concealment. Between anxiety and cheerfulness, raving and longing for rest, the state remains in motion, and the desire for attention emerges as a thread of its own.

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