Repertory › Remedies in the repertory

Camphora (Camph.)

Camphora (Camph.) appears in 729 rubrics in the Repertory. Of these, 54 are single-remedy rubrics in which only this remedy is listed, and 46 are small rubrics with at most two other remedies. The main emphasis is on Delusions, the largest group with 79 rubrics, and further on Anxiety, Delirium, Rage and Fear; Children and Puerperal mania stand out clearly. The picture is of a person who detaches from the world, lapses into raving or trance, and cannot bear himself.

Detachment from the ground

A series of delusions describes lifting off. The person barely touches the ground when walking, feels lighter or so light that he could float; at the same time he is tall, taller than the houses. The brain balances on a fine point and could tip over at any moment. The single-remedy rubric even states that she has just begun her existence at this very moment. The person lives in his own small world or moves in a new one. These rubrics can be read as the loss of ground, literally and figuratively.

Fear of the mirror, desire for distraction

A second group concerns the self. Small rubrics list anxiety about mirrors in the room, from fear of seeing oneself, and the desire to be distracted from thoughts of oneself. A single-remedy rubric records vertigo on looking in the mirror. The fear concerns less an object than one's own appearance and one's own thinking.

Rage and puerperal mania

Rage and mania are strongly represented. Listed are foam at the mouth, tearing the clothes, and the wish to blame others; there is rage after delivery and puerperal mania with exposed breasts, with offensive talk and with the desire to bite. Nakedness and rolling in one's own filth stand as single-remedy rubrics: "Rolling – dirt, feces." There is also the counter-image, mania with indifference and with cold sweat. It is striking that the condition arises in the puerperium, the time after birth.

Children

In children a picture of its own forms. Children crawl into the corner of the room and howl and scream there, according to the single-remedy rubrics, and small rubrics add that they strike themselves on the chest or laugh insanely. Infants show tetanic convulsions, and fear of punishment is listed for the child.

Trance and sleep

Finally, single-remedy rubrics show states between sleep and waking: catalepsy with loss of memory afterward, a trance state in which the person plays the piano with eyes closed and writes letters in a language he has learned, talking in sleep in a gentle voice all night, and delusions of ghosts in sleep. Added are delirium in which the same sentence is repeated continually, and anxieties from terrible apparitions while awake.

Distorted perception

Several rubrics describe a shift in perception. Objects appear shining and too bright, they are confused, or on closing the eyes in slumber are sometimes thick and sometimes thin. Things grow larger in time with the pulse. A small rubric lists sensitiveness to odors, specifically to camphor. The person experiences the surroundings as unreliable, which fits the picture of the missing ground.

Speech, voice and the crude

Speech and voice are disturbed. In the single-remedy rubrics speech is broken or uncertain, the voice bleats. Thinking is described as coarse, primitive and crude in three single-remedy rubrics of like meaning. Fitting this, in delirium the same sentence or the same words are repeated constantly. Expression and thinking seem to have fallen back to a simple, unformed level.

Fear of being pulled up and desire to kill

A small group combines fear and violence. Listed is fear of being drawn upward or pulled up, and also desire to kill: someone whom the person thinks he must kill, or while walking in the open air and in the street. Correspondingly, the delusions include the idea of having to murder someone in the street. These rubrics are rare and stand on their own; they are no indication of a tendency to violence but belong to the picture of loss of control.

Summary

Camphora gives a picture of dissolution of boundaries: the person loses the ground under his feet, shuns his own appearance, and falls into raving, trance or rigidity. The puerperium and childhood in particular bring the condition out clearly.

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