Repertory › Remedies in the repertory

Cuprum metallicum (Cupr.)

Cuprum metallicum (Cupr.) appears in 1,183 rubrics in the Repertory. Of these, 77 are single-remedy rubrics in which only this remedy is listed, and 81 are small rubrics with no more than two other remedies. The emphasis lies on the rubrics on Children, on Fear and Anxiety, on Delusions, Delirium and Insanity, and on Weeping, Screaming and Speech. Taken together they draw the picture of a person under spasm and fright, whose anxiety needs no particular object and whose mental state in the attack can turn into animal sounds, delusion and cruelty.

Children and the Attack

The rubrics on Children form the largest group with 142 entries. Many of them are connected with convulsions and their consequences. The Repertory lists fear of strangers during fever and fear of strangers generally, the wish to escape, unbearable approach, aversion to caresses and to others coming near. A child who is carried becomes stiff and kicks. Alongside stand periodic phases of malice and a cunning, shrewd nature. Striking is the rubric of whooping-cough fear: the child tries to avoid the coughing fit, and the single-remedy rubrics record that the anxiety before the attacks cannot be separated from the anxiety during the attack. Mood, too, follows the cough, for cheerfulness and sadness alternate in whooping cough. The children's rubrics thus end less in a character picture than in a form of reaction: the body responds with tension, and the mind responds with defense against any approach.

Anxiety and Fear

Anxiety is represented with 58 rubrics, Fear with 89. It is often tied to the event of the attack itself: listed are anxiety about convulsions and fear of them, likewise anxiety between epileptic attacks, anxiety in bed with cramps after fright, anxiety before the attack of whooping cough, and anxiety in Asiatic cholera. A single-remedy rubric calls the anxiety insurmountable. Alongside stand fears of appearing in public, of war, of cars and driving, of water when washing the hair, and of impending illness in which one would depend on others. A group of its own concerns failure: the fear of failure demands constant reassurance. From these rubrics emerges a picture in which anxiety does not come from outside but from the feeling that the body can lose control at any time; it attaches to fright, injury and exertion.

Delusions

The Delusions (57 rubrics) show two directions. One is self-exaltation, listed as commander, as a person of rank, and as a general; the single-remedy rubric "Multiple personality disorder – identity, error of – general, thinks he is a" carries this line to the loss of identity. The other direction is incompetence: the person thinks herself unfit for work, fears impending misfortune, and believes she must tread lightly so as not to hurt or disturb her companions and not to hurt herself. Alongside stand everyday, almost artisanal images: the person believes she is selling green vegetables, gathering herbs, or repairing old chairs and armchairs. A single-remedy rubric lists police officers who confront her, another the sensation of falling forward as if something were turning in the head. The delusions thus connect rank and occupation, guilt and balance.

Delirium, Insanity and Mania

In Delirium (33 rubrics), Insanity (23) and Mania the drastic forms are found. The delirium occurs in the evening in the dark, speaks of fire, comes with collapse or in brain disease. In two single-remedy rubrics the animal voice appears: the delirium "bleats (bellows) like a calf"; corresponding to it is the rubric "Moaning, groaning, wailing – cow, like a". The insanity is listed with a wild expression of the face, with complaints of the eyes and the circulation, with unbearable abdominal pain, and with sweat after the attack; a single-remedy rubric records that the person empties her bowels on the floor. The mania appears clonic, with cold sweat and with heart complaints. Here it becomes clear that in the attack the mind loses the reins and the body follows with sweat, twitching and vocal utterance.

Voice, Sounds and Gestures

The rubrics on Speech, Screaming and Voice are unusually dense for Cuprum. There is aphonia in singers, recorded in two single-remedy rubrics as "Aphonia – voice failing in singers, temporary" and as intermittent aphonia. Loss of speech occurs through cramps or spasms in the throat, and aphasia follows anxiety and fear. The sounds become animal-like: the person caws or croaks like a frog, screams like a child, speaks hoarsely and shrilly. Screaming occurs after convulsions, with suppressed menses and with stomach complaints. Equally clear are the gestures: the hands clench into fists, the thumbs are drawn in, especially after a fright or a fall on the head. The single-remedy rubric on grimaces that one tries to hide fits with this. In these rubrics the body betrays what the mind would like to conceal.

Malice and Hardness

Beside the tendency to spasm stands a second, unexpected side. The Repertory lists Malicious in the forms brutal, cruel, after convulsions and with laughing. The rubric "Malicious – cruel" and the hardness toward oneself ("Hardhearted, relentless – self, toward") stand next to each other as single-remedy rubrics; hardheartedness toward others is also listed. To this belong quarrelsomeness in mania, the tendency to tease and provoke animals, and joy at the misfortune of others. Obstinacy alternates with mildness. The combination is striking: whoever loses control can turn to hardness, and the hardness is directed just as much against the person himself.

Ambition, Work and Suppression

A trait of achievement and persistence cannot be overlooked. Listed are the wish to be the best, the rubrics on efficient work and on much work, the desire to finish work, and planning for the whole day. The rubric "Fanaticism – never gives up" sums this up. Against it stands the inability to make an effort, and the overworked person laughs. Also listed are consequences of suppression: stupefaction from suppressed eruptions, screaming after suppressed menses, and hysteria with twitching after menses. The mind seems to express itself here when the body denies discharge; the mood is connected with what cannot come out.

Summary

In the Repertory Cuprum metallicum shows a picture of tension and discharge. Anxiety, fright and attack chain together; the mind steps out of order in delirium, delusion and animal sound, and the hardness that can break out in the process strikes others and the person himself. Against this stands a pronounced will to achievement and perseverance, which the body seems to limit with spasm and loss of voice. Especially dense are the rubrics on Children, in which anxiety, defense against any approach, and a tendency to attacks overlap.

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