Repertory › Remedies in the repertory

Pulsatilla pratensis (Puls.)

Pulsatilla pratensis (Puls.) appears in 2,395 rubrics in the repertory. Of these, 130 are single rubrics in which only this remedy appears, and 190 are small rubrics with at most two other remedies. The emphasis lies on the rubrics on Children, Delusions, Anxiety and Fear, plus Weeping, Sadness and Ailments from mortification and disappointed love. Together they yield the picture of a person who needs attention, seeks it through weeping and leaning on others, and yields outwardly while a will of his own persists within.

Leaning and attention

The core lies in the need for closeness. The repertory lists the desire to be caressed and stroked, a tenderness that is completely absorbing, hunger for affection and recognition, clinging to persons and furniture and the tendency to lean. Children want to be carried, sitting upright, rocked slowly and gently. Protecting others also belongs here, mothering, kissing children. The need has two sides: it can turn into claim and possession, into envy, avarice and hatred in matters of love, and in children into manipulative behavior.

Dependence on the judgment of others

Self-esteem depends on the gaze of the surroundings. Listed are recognition dependent on others, giving everything when flattered, hypochondriasis aimed at being cared for, and the habit of discussing one's own problems with many. A single rubric names kleptomania that serves only to attract attention. Fear of mortification and humiliation corresponds to this; it gives its ground to the indecision that combines with discouragement or laziness.

Children

The rubrics on Children, with about 300 entries, are the most extensive group. The girl appears blond, pale and gentle; in gentle disposition an excessively delayed menses is listed. Children play with dolls, adapt their choice of occupation to their parents' wishes, become worse under sudden attention and react with sudden vexation, with vomiting and tearfulness. The tendency to arouse pity shows itself already here, even when the ears hurt.

Weeping

Weeping is the language of this need. It arouses pity, in children as in adults, it occurs at joyful as well as sad things, when answering a question, when nursing, on interruption of work and with coryza. Outdoors in the open air it is relieved. The mood is by no means even: morose mood alternates with loving behavior and with weeping, and a single rubric records the contradictoriness of the mood. Mortification and disappointed love lead to amenorrhea, to weariness of life and to delirium.

Yielding with backing

The person appears compliant, but the rubrics show a second layer. Yielding, submissive, timid, believing in authority and mild are one side; opposite them stands a group of single rubrics, each naming "persistence, with underlying": "Submissive, servile – persistence, with underlying." Timidity too has two faces, for the person covers the face with the hands and yet looks through the fingers. Aggression is not shown, needs are seldom voiced, but improvements are exaggerated. If the person is suddenly noticed, she blushes bright red.

Warmth and air

A surprisingly closed theme is warmth. The Delusions list a warm atmosphere that one enters while eating; anxiety arises as in hot air, dullness on entering a warm room, unconsciousness in the warm room with chilliness, and the anxiety drives one to loosen the clothing and open the windows. The anguish is ameliorated in the open air and by motion. One can see in this a person to whom closeness quickly becomes too confining and who needs air and room to move.

Fear and delusional images

Fear is broadly fanned out. It concerns the railway and the bridge, water over the head, separation from the parents, the family that would have to be raised, unemployment, the talk of people, mortification and being insulted. Likewise fear of coition stands in the rubrics, listed separately for women. The delusional images have a nocturnal, bodily trait: a little gray man who wants to tear out the leg, a naked man in bed, black men, bees, the world in flames, the feeling of not being herself, or of being ruined. In children a guardian angel appears.

Religion, sex and pregnancy

A group of its own combines piety and aversion. Praying is constant, as a remedy against discouragement; at the same time the repertory names a religious aversion to the opposite sex, in men to women, and a hatred of women in women. Objects, things, affairs and matters are the object of an aversion without the rubrics specifying them further. Around pregnancy and childbirth stand suspicion and reserve, the wish to hide, pride in the pregnancy, grief at delivery, weeping while nursing and the delusion that the baby looks repulsive. In puerperal mania the person looks timidly.

Mind, night and mood

The course of the day too bears features. Remorse comes in the evening, at night and on waking, as does sighing on waking; discouragement prevails in the morning in bed, as does concern about domestic affairs in the morning. In the evening, by contrast, the repertory lists amelioration of morose mood and dissatisfaction and a changeable mood. Thoughts are persistent, at night they revolve around music, wishes and longing. After midnight the fancies become vivid, and some complaints are accompanied by noises in the ears or a pale face. Anger ends as it came, suddenly.

Summary

In the repertory Pulsatilla shows a person of soft, needy nature who wins affection through weeping, leaning and compliance and at the same time imperceptibly asserts herself. The inclination toward warmth, closeness and attention quickly turns into fear and constriction; fresh air and motion bring relief.

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