Repertory › Remedies in the repertory

Staphisagria (Staph.)

Staphisagria (Staph.) appears in 2,044 rubrics in the Repertory. Of these, 123 are single-remedy rubrics in which only this remedy is listed, and 202 are small rubrics with at most two other remedies. The emphasis lies on the Children rubrics, Delusions, Anger and Anxiety, on Ailments from previous events, on Sensitiveness, Indignation and Grief, and further on Love, Fancies and Sexuality. These yield the picture of a person who feels offense and humiliation deeply, cannot express the anger over it, and hides it behind composure, politeness and mildness until it discharges once.

The Offense

The core lies in the vulnerability of dignity. The Repertory lists sensitiveness to insults, humiliation, disdain, contempt, dishonor and imputed dishonesty, each in its own rubric. One who believes himself despised feels that everyone looks down on him. The offense has a long aftermath: there are Introversion, Dullness and Disgust with life after offense, Sadness from a harsh word, and Weeping at the slightest imagined insult. This is shown most clearly by the rubric on withdrawal after a quarrel: "Offended, easily - suppressed anger, offended by, too dignified to quarrel, goes home sick, trembling and exhausted." The person does not fight but leaves the scene and pays with the body.

Suppressed Anger

From the offense follows an anger that finds no way out. The rubrics speak of suppressed emotions and suppressed rage, of hidden, latent and internal aggression, of the inability to vent, to defend oneself or to protect one's boundaries ("Boundaries - inability to defend one's own"). Outwardly the opposite holds: listed are Mildness outwardly but inwardly furious ("Mildness - outwardly, inwardly furious"), likewise affection and politeness despite inner rage, and a politeness arising from guilt feelings. A feeling of always having to keep up appearances supports the facade. This can be read as a double existence in which outer and inner fall apart; one rubric explicitly names the discrepancy between outer and inner state.

Discharge

Where the anger breaks, it breaks violently. The rubrics know Rage attacks that are rare but violent ("Rage attacks - rare, but violent"), explosive and uncontrollable fits, impotent rage. The person stamps while walking without showing aggression, throws objects at those who insulted him, tears things apart and pushes the table away ("Anger - pushes the table away"). Remorse follows: Repenting the anger, Equanimity afterward. The body bears the traces, for the anger constricts the pit of the throat, weakens speech and voice, and can lead to one-sided paralysis. Where the anger cannot get out, aphonia remains.

Love and Sexuality

Love is turned inward. Listed are idealized, platonic, painful and unlived love ("Love - unlived"), also idealizing love for the mother and the longing to become one with the partner. Sexuality is equally unlived: it is talked about without being lived, it shifts into tormenting sexual fancies and into the longing for solitude in order to pursue them. Self-reproach and remorse follow, also after masturbation. Ailments from disappointed love occur with morbid sensitivity and speechlessly. Delusions concern the loss of the partner and the wish to change him. Rubrics on rape and deflowering shock in the history show that physical injury and shame also belong to the picture.

Children

With 260 rubrics, Children is the largest area. The children adapt and deny themselves the older they get; they flee on waking, grasp for the mother in sleep, are morose, irritable and gloomy early in the morning, and are beside themselves with anger at the parents. Alongside stands a marked sense for flowers and beautiful things. The structure of adaptation and pent-up resentment is already evident at this age.

Sleep and Imagination

Anxiety returns after the midday nap, after short sleep and in slumber ("Anxiety - after midday nap"). Among the Delusions are objects that appear as something else, legs that give way, and a person approaching from behind. Self-aggrandizement is found in fancies so exaggerated that the person takes them for real, and in the notion that others are humbled and small while he himself is great.

Summary

In the Repertory, Staphisagria shows a person whose dignity is vulnerable and who answers injury with silence, composure and friendliness, while anger and suppressed desire build up inside. From this tension arise the rare, violent outbursts, the physical consequences, and the retreats into fancy, love without fulfillment, and self-reproach. That the Children rubrics are so numerous suggests that this pattern is laid down early.

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