MINDING THE MIND IN THE CLINIC

A young girl who is working in a call center came to me for treatment of pain and discomfort in the lower abdomen with excessive weakness. Her health is not at all improving in spite of taking so much of treatment. She had undergone all the tests but nothing abnormal was detected. She was advised to take vitamin pills, tonics and occasional painkillers. But her condition of health remains unchanged.

She explained me everything in detail. When asked about managing the pain she replied she just hold the abdomen tightly and sit down bending forward which gave her temporary relief. That time she becomes bit relaxed.

I asked, “What she thought about her problem?”

She replied, “I am not at all worried about my health as I am like this since so many years”.

Sometimes when her fiancée and would be in-laws tell her that she looks abnormally thin then she feels bad, otherwise she is not worried about the same.

Rather, she is much worried about the excessive weakness. She gets exhausted easily. Earlier, she used to work in the office, do all her own work at home even helped her mother in household works but now even she is unable to manage her office work.

She gets occasional vertigo attack after little exhaustion, immediately she lies down as she apprehends she may fall down. The most worrying factor is that how she would manage her home after marriage as she had to look after everything on her own.

I gave this girl Sepia 30. The mental state of this patient is understood by linking all the following rubrics:

1. DELUSIONS - poor, he is

2. IRRITABILITY - exertion; from

3. CARES, full of - domestic affairs, about

4. FEAR - poverty, of

In this case the main concern of the patient is not her thin body but the weakness. She corrects me when I gave more importance to her stomach problem by telling, “If my energy level goes up I think I can manage the discomfort in the abdomen.” Because of the exertion only she gets irritated.

In most of my cases of this remedy I have observed that Sepia will always give more emphasis on her weakness and the changed mental state there of.

Let us try to understand this remedy.

Sepia is a very caring lady for her family. She works day and night to make others happy in the family and to keep the home in a very good condition. She loves doing work and enjoys doing all the domestic chores. Though during the process she overexerts herself and gets worried but she continues doing the same and sometimes these activities gives her mental satisfaction and she continues doing so.

1. CARES, full of

2. CARES, full of - domestic affairs, about

3. ANXIETY - others, for

4. OCCUPATION - amel.

5. DANCING

6. SINGING

During the process and with the passage of time she feels that her energy level is getting depleted and she feels very weak.

DELUSIONS - poor, he is

She becomes so weak that she becomes completely exhausted. In that state even for normal routine work she cannot exert herself. This produces irritability.

IRRITABILITY - exertion; from

Earlier, in the rubric ‘IRRITABILITY - exertion; from’ we had only two medicines: Sepia and Sulphur. We should know how to differentiate these two remedies so that in this particular expression of the patient we should be able to prescribe right remedy.

In Sulphur the patient will always show a shade of wealth during the present condition, with that he will also express the condition of gradual depletion of this wealth which may lead of poverty.

The statement of Sulphur may be like this: “vfHk rks eSa manage dj ysrk gwa ysfdu tSls ;s py jgk gS eq>s ;s Mj yxrk gS fd vkxs py ds fnDdr gks ldrh gSA”

“Now I am able to manage the condition but the way it is going on I apprehend in the coming days I won’t be able to manage myself.”

But in Sepia there is no wealth, so the present state is poor.

Her expression in the clinic may be, “I feel so weak to even manage my day to day activities, further I apprehend how I will continue doing the same in the coming days”.

“bruh detksjh yx jgh gS fd ?kj dk routine dke djus esa Hkh eqf”dy gks jgk gSA ;gh Mj yx jgk gS fd vkxs ?kj dSls pysxkA ”

Sepia cares only for her domestic activities whereas Sulphur cares for everybody in the society.

In the present situation Sepia will always have a feeling that if she doesn’t work because of her weakness then the whole family will starve.

DELUSIONS - starve - family will

But in Sulphur, during the present condition he feels he can manage but he apprehends starving in the future along with Sepia.

Hence Sulphur apprehends weakness in the days to come whereas Sepia is presently in a condition of weakness and at the same time apprehends further more to come.

During my initial days of practice on mental state, I used to prescribe Sulphur for cases of hair-fall when patient used to tell, “now I can manage with this much of hair but by seeing the number of hairs falling I apprehend after some days I will be totally bald”. But Sepia will tell, “as it is I am having very thin line of hair and takes utmost care to maintain the same and if the hair-fall continues then how it will look like when all the hair will fall”. Lkpeqp xath gks tkmaxhA

When Sepia becomes energy less (poor) then she feels everybody in the family should help her in this state of exhaustion as she had reached this state because of working for the family.

But she does not get proper response. Though others try to help her but it is not up to the expectation as she desires (FASTIDIOUS).

That time her problem get aggravated and her weakness level further goes down.

AILMENTS FROM – disappointment

That’s when Sepia starts getting indifferent towards her family members and further cuts off from them.

1. INDIFFERENCE, apathy - family, to his

2. ESTRANGED - family; from his

Because of the excessive weakness even with slightest effort to work Sepia becomes very much exhausted. That time Sepia reacts with irritability to others for the slightest help they need or by doing little household work. Even for the work, which needs slightest exertion, Sepia starts taking lot of anxiety and feels helpless. She even goes to the extent of being Abusive and insulting.

1. IRRITABILITY - exertion; from

2. ABUSIVE

3. ANXIETY – sewing

Once she feel that she cannot cope up with the situation, she just does not pay heed to anything and stay alone.

1. INDIFFERENCE, apathy - lies with eyes closed

2. COMPANY - aversion to - sight of people; avoids the - lies with closed eyes, and

3. COMPANY - aversion to - alone; when - amel.

Closing eyes does not mean that Sepia does not see anything. The meaning is that she just sit down quietly does not participate in any activity going on around her as if she is not concerned about the surrounding and not affected by it.

Sepia never wanted to stay indifferent but because of exhaustion she had no option but to do so, that time she feels helpless.

1. HELPLESSNESS; feeling of

2. CONTRADICTORY - actions are contradictory to intentions

Though she becomes indifferent to family but she never forgets that they had not helped her during her bad days, so whenever she finds some occasion she tries to tell people around him about them.

COMPLAINING - others, of

Sepia always feels that her present state has happened because of others as they never took care of her but she never blames herself, why she worked so much for others, she should have taken rest that time. That’s why Sepia is not in the rubric ‘ANGER - mistakes, about his’.

Rather she feels that her luck was unfavorable.

UNFORTUNATE, feels

Though Sepia stays indifferent but at the core inside, she is still a family lady. The thought of the maintenance of the family even during her exhaustion hurts her. She always feels how the family will survive now and if the state continues how they will survive in future also.

1. DELUSIONS - starve - family will

2. FEAR - poverty, of

During this condition she becomes more depressed and feels she has reached to such a pitiable state from which now she cannot come out, as she had nothing left in her.

1. DELUSIONS – of emptiness (c)

2. DESPAIR - existence, about miserable

She starts avoiding her closed ones and her family members after that.

1. AVERSION - husband, to

2. AVERSION - family; to members of

3. ESCAPE, attempts to - family and children; attempts to escape from her

Even if people come to ask her about her needs she apprehends that this will further aggravate her exhaustion as they will be asking for some help which she is not in a state of performing now.

FEAR - approaching; of - others; of

She feels others are not there to help her rather during her need they deserted her. For her they are good for nothing.

1. FORSAKEN feeling - beloved by his parents, wife, friends; feels of not being

2. DELUSIONS - alone, being - graveyard; alone in a

If somebody even come near to her to reassure or comfort she rebels against the same as it pinches her and she feels they are making fun of her.

1. CONSOLATION - agg. - sympathy agg.

2. REBELS against poultice

3. MOCKING - others are mocking at him; thinks

She feels that the sole aim of taking care of his family and others at home is now not possible, as she has lost all interest and energy for doing so.

AMBITION - loss of

In a nutshell Sepia is a family lady who exhausts herself to the maximum for the welfare of the family, leading her to the present condition of depleted health. She does not get the support of her family as per her needs. She reacts irritably because of her exertion. She feels others have deserted her during her need. She becomes totally indifferent to others and started disliking them, does not like even their help and then stay put in a pitiable state from which she even do not want to come out.