Understanding Staphisagria

Dr. Claudio C. Araujo M.D., F.F.Hom. (Lon.) et al.

Someone is sitting there, and he is alone. Averse to society, ill-humored, his friends and acquaintances are all the people to be avoided.

She was full of grief the whole day; she grieved over her condition and wept; nothing in the world pleased her. 

He was joyous, enjoyed society, and was good-humored. [Curative reaction of the organism in a man of the opposite disposition. -Hahnemann.] 

Mind phlegmatic, depressed, sad, apathetic, indifferent to everything, without peevishness or without being weak, 

Her mind seemed dead and sad, though not with weeping, 

She will hear or know nothing from anyone; she wraps up her face and weeps aloud without cause, 

Dreams full of bitterness, 

He became someone completely indifferent to the others, to his surroundings and he is finally exhausted.

Even attractive things made no impression upon him,

He is mentally exhausted, has no desire to think, is not inclined to thought, and is indifferent to his surroundings. 

This process, all way down in his life up to that point, was intermingled with many situations, when he tried hard to cope with society, to live among them. A very sensitive person, he has been always fighting for his points of view. But now, after all these years, he can’t stand any longer.

Very sensitive to least impression, either mental or physical. 

Palpitation: from least motion; from mental exertion; from music; after siesta; nervous; so, marked it can be seen, shakes the whole body.

Very sensitive to least impression; least word that seems wrong hurts her very much.

What have happened to the Staphisagria patient? Why did he suffer so much, why he (at the end) wants to throw even valuable things into the fire?

Convulsions, with loss of consciousness, retraction of thumbs and foaming at mouth, brought on by domestic troubles (being unjustly accused of infidelity); (…)

Seminal emissions followed by great chagrin and mortification; prostration; dyspnœa.

(…) sits by fire for hours without getting warm, amuses himself by throwing into the fire any article near at hand, regardless of value; at times more violent (…)

On reading the symptoms from Hering, Allen and Hahnemann, altogether with the comments by Kent, we could perceive three most important aspects in Staphisagria are:

His pride: Staphisagria feels hurt, outraged, as if their boundaries have been exceeded by the rudeness of others. It´s not just pride - as someone feeling proud of oneself. It´s an oversensitive feeling, someone prone to become furious, easily offended by the slightest reason – but always a good reasonable motif.

His amelioration from sexual relations.

His constant inclination to misanthropy.

Is from thecombination of those three aspects that we will start our understanding of the remedy.

We are, all of us people in this world, born with a certain degree of justice. Of what should be considered right or wrong, what are our duties regarding the others and ourselves. Regarding culture, social position or religion, human beings are born with a general measure of what should or shouldn’t be done. 

But then, for the Staphisagria patient, comes “pride”, one´s outrageous feeling.

Brain-tire, with great genital weakness; irritability, inability to sustain a mental effort; was insulted, being too dignified to fight, subdued his wrath and went home sick, trembling and exhausted.

Suffering from pride, envy, or chagrin.

Pride is related to dignity, nobleness, presumption, conceit, glory, and many other words that could be understood, from the side of the one affected with pride, as an internal sensation of justice, a strong internal demand for righteousness.

Now our patient is suffering from “injustice” but in fact it is only his strong pride that got him sick. We have heard that Staphisagria is someone with a strong sense of justice. But it’s not. He looks to the world through his pride.

Every word vexes her; she cries even if one only speaks to her. 

Great indignation about things done by others or by himself; grieves about consequences. 

Ailments from indignation and vexation, or reserved displeasure; sleeplessness. 

After becoming angry, trembling of whole body, oppression of chest and dyspnœa, so that he feared he would suffocate; pressure as of a heavy weight lying upon stomach, severe tension in epigastrium; nausea, and salty-bitter eructation; pains so severe that he wished death would relieve him.

Paralysis on one side, from anger. 

Very sensitive to least impression; least word that seems wrong hurts her very much.

Very peevish (in the morning); he wishes to throw from him everything which he takes in his hand, 

Quiet fretfulness: he is vexed at everything which even does not concern him.

Colic: after indignation.

The Staphisagria patient is vexed, sensitive to the least word and angered, fretful, prone to quarrel.

Quiet fretfulness: he is vexed at everything which even does not concern him, 

Fretful and sad, 

Fretful and peevish all day; does not know himself on account of despondency, and is extremely depressed,

Fretful and restless all day, found rest nowhere. 

Fretful and disinclined for mental work. 

Fretful and lachrymose,  

Fretful peevishness, with excessive ill-humor.

Quarrelsome mood and yet lively. 

All his sufferings are coming from his pride. That’s his first look to reality, He is prone to be offended, vexed, he is taking everything in a bad part, he has a broad sense of “injustice” to himself. Even a single word may offend him.

The second point is that Staphisagria will find out the he or she feels much better after sexual relations. Even his pains got better. He (or she) has a strong sexual inclination, up to the point of losing control of his own sexual passions. The first symptoms are a combination of the two aspects of the remedy:

Hypochondriasis; apathy; weak memory; caused by unmerited insults, sexual excesses, or by persistently dwelling on sexual subjects. 

And then comes the loss of sexual control:

Nymphomania, with extreme sensitiveness to mental and physical impressions; mind has been dwelling too much on sexual subjects.

Effects of onanism or sexual excesses; loss of memory, hypochondriasis, taciturnity, face sunken, abashed look, nocturnal emissions, backache, weak legs, relaxed organs, deficiency of vital heat and tendency to take cold, deep sunken, red, and lusterless eyes, hair falls out; loss of prostatic fluid and impairment of sexual desire; dull and contusive pains in the testicles, voluptuous itching of the scrotum, atrophy of the testicles."

Sexual desire excited. 

Erections, without lascivious thoughts and without emission, the whole night,. 

Excessive erections all night, without emission.

Amorous dreams with emissions. 

Amorous dream, at night with two emissions,

His amelioration of his pains from sexual intercourse:

Atrophy of testicle in a man, æt. 50, of robust constitution; about twenty-five years ago had mumps on left side; on exposure to cold, left testicle began to swell until it nearly reached size of a goose-egg; as swelling receded testicle dwindled down to size of little finger, very soft and flabby; nearly ever since he has suffered from an aching pain in it, especially on outer side; great sensitiveness to touch; pain more violent after touching it, or after any friction, with sharp shooting pain up cord into abdomen ; walking upon frozen ground causes uneasiness; at times so sensitive at night, he cannot sleep without keeping his knees widely separated; there does not seem to be any inflammation in it; unpleasant sensation in cerebellum, can hardly describe it, extends from occipital protuberance to left ear, seems as if it were hollow, yet there is a dull ache, a feeling as if brain were not large enough to fill space; when he happens to hurt testicle, head trouble is < ; region of head alluded to is sensitive to pressure; > after sexual intercourse; at times thoughtful; if reading, and some one calls his attention suddenly, he forgets where he was reading and what about; scrotum on that side contracts, itches, and he has often to pinch and rub it between

Finally, his only way to protect himself from the world and everyone else is to retreat. His pride took him away from society. He had turned himself indifferent and apart. His memories from the past are still haunting him, giving him no peace. Old offenses, mal traits, they will never subdue.

Anxious thoughts and events in the past came to him as if the past were present before him, which caused anxiety and anxious perspiration, then it became black before his eyes; he did not know whether the images were real or illusory, then everything seemed different, and he lost all desire to live, 

Earnest mood, quiet, busy with himself, speaks very little, 

(Hypochondriac mood; everything seems indifferent to him; he would rather die), 

She will hear or know nothing from anyone; she wraps up her face and weeps aloud without cause, 

Even attractive things made no impression upon him.

He is mentally exhausted, has no desire to think, is not inclined to thought, and is indifferent to his surroundings. 

He was joyous, enjoyed society, and was good-humored. [Curative reaction of the organism in a man of the opposite disposition. -Hahnemann.] 

When before a Staphisagria patient, these three elements must be present: Outraged from the slightest reason, , general melioration through sex or sexual excesses and his inclination of quietness, his aversion to society, his desire for not been bothered by those who have no respect for him.

But it seems that Staphisagria’s starting point is his pride, ones easily outrageous mood,, his perception of what he deserves from the others. That perception, this “mood”  has to change during the treatment.

Two clinical cases have brought my attention to the common indications for the prescription of Staphisagria: First patient - a lady in her forties, that had been struck right at her face by a rock thrown at the windshield of her car, while she was travelling back  home. The other patient, a young woman in her twenties who suffered a deep cut at her leg when she was at a party and a bottle of sparkling wine felt on the floor and exploded, cutting her leg. Both women were taken to the hospital, their wounds treated – but after a few days – in different moments of my medical practice – they came to see me and their mental symptoms were very much alike: Apart of having their injures treated and the cuts in the skin properly sutured, both were showing the same mental symptoms: “how on Earth could it happened”? Their major suffering was: how could someone threw on me a rock at my face, how could the waiter leave a bottle slid out from his hands?! Although the physical injures being treated, they were in deep mental distress and the idea could not let them rest for a single moment, becoming stronger and worse every day. This is a very “classic” combination of symptoms for Staphisagria and embodies the whole understanding of the remedy: not being responsible for what had happened to oneself, suffering an injure, maybe a flesh cut, and feeling, as a consequence: outraged, indignant, hurt, suffering in pain, unable to forget or to forgive.  

Staphisagria, in high potencies and single doses, managed to help both ladies.