10 / 16
36
LAMIACEAE ¦ PIPERACEAE
SPECTRUM OF HOMEOPATHY
level (2), he complains of bad mood, eye problems, headaches,
dizziness, concentration problems, and sleep disorders. His
feelings (3) are mainly that he cries a lot, including during sad
films; he feels unmotivated and cannot enjoy himself. He is often
afraid he will not manage something and is then very tense, as
if agitated. (This characteristic polarity of a lack of motivation
together with agitation is something we also saw in the first
case.) Mentally (level 4), he talks about bad thoughts against
which he cannot do anything. He reflects about the situation
and wants to remain mentally strong. The actual vital sensation
expresses itself in his description of the daily grind, the grayness,
with everything feeling heavy, and he feels no spontaneity. The
gray has no contrast. Nothing is fun and he does not want to
do anything. He is collapsing, exhausted. Everything only gets
better when he is active.
Comments:
we can see here very clearly – as in the previous
case – the polarity between boredom and activity, as well as
the reaction to this, which is that only an external impulse
can pull him out of the listlessness. This again brings us to
the Piperaceae family. The basic mood of the casetaking is
however quite different (although this may not come across
well in a written report such as this) – Florian's tension is much
worse than Sebastian's. Florian does not say that he has got
used to his situation, instead he says that (summarized): “I've
always been doing stuff, doing stuff. It's all so exhausting.
I'm not in charge of things but I don't want to lose control.”
The way he cries during sad films is also an expression of
strong control, which is then released at innocuous moments.
This strong need for control and the constant, highly exacting
activity is what we find in the cancer miasm (in the language
of the Sensation method). This leads us to the remedy
Piper
methysticum
, Kava-kava, the best known remedy of the family.
It quickly helped our patient to regain his strength, freeing him
from his complaints, so that he could once again concentrate
on his studies.
VITAL SENSATION OF THE PIPERACEAE
The vital sensation of the Piperaceae, with its polarity between
< boredom, listlessness, pain versus enjoyment, amusement,
variety >, is very often found in puberty. Both the active reac-
tion of a desire for change, enjoyment, amusement, fun, and
partying, as well as the passive reaction of wallowing in listless-
ness are very typical of this phase of life, in which the person
resorts to early oral behavioral and satisfaction patterns as a
preparation for the serious business of life, while simultaneously
avoiding taking the necessary steps. Here, we need to distinguish
whether we are dealing with a disturbance that needs treat-
ment or with a basically healthy and age-appropriate phase of
changeable moods, even if it gets on the nerves of other people.
Although the genus Piper contains 1,200 species and the
Piperaceae family contains almost 2,000, we only use four of
these homeopathically. Interesting other plants from this family,