Compendium
Mental diseases and their modern treatmentBy Professor Selden Haines Talcott (A.M.,
M.D., Ph.D)
Presented by Dr Robert Séror
Cannabis Indica
General Action
It acts upon the cerebro-spinal system, producing various effects.
Sometimes it causes a mild exhilaration, and again it stimulates the
prover to intense and exalted ecstacy.It produces decided effects upon the psychical system, and stirs the mind
to a wonderful variety of action.In this respect it somewhat resembles
Opium, Agaricus, Belladonna, and Alcohol.
Brain and Spinal Cord
Pleasurable intoxication, with bright, shining eyes.
Heaviness of the arms and legs, making it difficult to move or exercise.
A sensation as if the head were opening and shutting along the vertex.
Mind
Numerous hallucinations and illusions.
Sensations and motions are greatly exaggerated.
Time and space seem immeasurable.
A few seconds seem to be ages or cycles of time.
A few rods seem an immense distance.
The patient is unable to recall any thought or event of the past on
account of the multitude of images which at present crowd upon the brain.Great mental exaltation with singing and laughing.
But this exaltation is followed by sadness, depression and weakness.
The natural tendency of the individual is exaggerated under the influence
ofCannabis Indica.
The mild and gentle person become more pleasant, happy and agreeable than
common, while those possessing irritable dispositions become exceedingly vicious and violent
under this drug.Sleep
Excessive sleepiness.
Voluptuous dreams in which are realized the prophesies and promises of
Mahomet’s heaven for the time being.
But morning discovers to the tired dreamer only profuse seminal emission.
Dreams of anger, of dead bodies, and of horrible objects.
Intense nightmare.
Accompaniments
Frequent micturition, with much burning in the urethra.
Urine starts slowly and dribbles, in a feeble stream.
Sexual desires greatly increased.
Violent erections when walking, or riding, or sitting still, and without
amorous thoughts, except during the dreams.Special Sphere of Action
Nervous diseases, with delusions relating to time and space, accompanied
by unusual sexual disturbances, followed by weakness of mind, tremulousness and exhaustion
of body.It may be useful in relieving the symptoms of general paresis and
catalepsy.The cataleptic state may sometimes be induced by an overpowering belief
in the patient’s mind that time and space are too vast for change, hence a disinclination to
make effort.Cantharis
General Action
This drug acts upon the cerebrospinal system, and it affects the
genito-urinary tract most positively.Brain and Spinal Cord
Cerebral congestions.
Convulsions resembling hydrophobia, which are produced or aggravated by
the sight or sound of water.Hughes
denies this
symptom, but we have observed some Cantharis cases that were much disturbed by seeing water, or
any bright, glistening substance. (Also
Stramonium).Mind
Sudden loss of memory.
Furious delirium barking like a dog.
Paroxysms of rage excited by any bright, dazzling object.
Amorous frenzy.
Intolerable sexual desire mania, with a tendency to swear (also
Anacardium) violent, contradictory moods.
Restlessness, culminating in attacks of rage.
Great activity and sensitiveness of the mind.
Sleep
Sleeplessness.
Light sleep with anxious dreams erections during sleep (also
Cannabis Indica), followed by wakefulness and anxiety.
Accompaniments
Intense burning and smarting pains along the urethra.
Spasmodic pains in the region of the bladder.
Paroxysmal pains in both kidneys.
The back in the region of the kidneys is sensitive to touch.
Constant urging to urinate.
Painful evacuation, drop by drop, of bloody urine, or pure blood.
Sharp, burning pains in the genital organs, accompanied by erections and
fierce desire for sexual intercourse.Special Sphere of Action
Cantharis
is useful
among the insane when the female patient suffers with an intense nymphomania, or the male is
afflicted with satyriasis.There is usually an inflammatory condition in some portion of the
genito-urinary tract which so excites the sexual desire that the patient loses entirely his
self-control, and resorts to the most debasing practices, in order to gratify his insane
sexual impulses.The patient has at times a furious delirium, during which he will cry, or
bark like a dog, and at times he will manifest great excitement at the sight of water.This latter symptom is suggestive of the conditions present in
hydrophobia.Picric Acidum
is
similar in its action to Cantharis, and in large doses it produces an almost
uncontrollable sexual excitement.It is a valuable remedy when sexual excesses have produced exhaustion of
the vital forces and a condition of neurasthenia prevails.It is also useful in melancholia with indifference, want of will power,
and abject despair.Even in acute dementia with utter exhaustion it is a rival of
Phosphoric Acidum.
There is burning along the spine, weakness of the legs and back, severe
pains in the back and occiput, going up to the supraorbital notch.The least exertion causes prostration.
In such cases it has proved of striking benefit among the insane.
Causticum
General Action
Causticum
depresses
the function of the motor nerves, especially those which take their origin from nuclei in
the medulla oblongata.Brain and Spinal Cord
Vertigo, with a tendency to fall either forward or to the side.
Brought on by motion, or looking steadily at any object.
Paralysis of the recti muscles, or of the muscles of the face, tongue,
throat, or, more rarely, of the bladder and extremities.Mind
Timid, uneasy, fretful.
Disinclined to work, and cannot fix the attention upon any task.
The patient is sallow and sickly in appearance.
Is apprehensive and despondent.
Distrustful, and as is often the case with an invalid, self-control is
partially lost, and he is inclined to break into peevish periods of impotent anger.Sleep
Restless.
The limbs twitch and jerk, but without interrupting sleep.
Accompaniments
Weakness of the vocal cords, with catarrhal inflammation of the larynx.
Hoarseness worse in the morning.
Painful cough with difficult expectoration of soapy tasting mucus.
Stiffness of the joints contraction of the adjacent tendons brought on
and aggravated by exposure to cold.Special Sphere of Action
Causticum
is
especially indicated in partial paralysis of the muscles supplied by a single nave, though
it is sometimes prescribed with benefit for the paralysis following cerebral apoplexy.In either case accompanied by irritable mental weakness and indecision.
It is a remedy for the constitutionally timid, and for anemic persons of
scrofulous habit.Chamomilla
General Action
It acts on the cerebrospinal nervous system, with characteristic
affections of the emotional sphere.Brain and Spinal Cord
Violent, constricting, pressing, boring headache.
Pressure from the vertex extending over the forehead and temples.
Congestion of the brain following fits of anger (also
Bryonia), stiffness of the cervical muscles.
Drawing pains in the scapulae.
Pain in the back extending through the abdomen to the front, and into the
genitals.Severe pain in the loins and hip joints.
Mind
Irritable, impatient, peevish and snappish extreme sensitiveness to
external impressions (alsoCoffea,
Ignatia, Belladonna and Staphysagria).Imagines he hears voices of absent friends at night.
Bad effects of anger.
The patient is extremely cross and sensitive (
Nux Vomica is
cross, but not so sensitive as Chamomilla).Sleep
Sleeplessness from pain, and from ill temper.
Even while sleeping the patient moans, weeps, wails, and starts
suddenly.On falling asleep is tormented by anxious and frightful dreams.
Accompaniments
Sharp toothache.
Griping colic, with flatulence.
Severe pains across the abdomen, followed by bilious diarrhea, and acrid
discharges from the vagina.Special Sphere of Action
Chamomilla
is useful
in conditions of excessive hyperesthesia, and this over sensitiveness is accompanied by a
corresponding mental state which has been well described as one of “snappish irritability.”The patient is cross, impatient, and irritable.
Nothing suits him.
He is angry, and cannot endure being spoken to, and will not reply
respectfully or even decently to any one who addresses him. (CompareAntimonium Tartaricum).
The patient cannot bear pain, and makes excessive complaint because of
slight ailments.This remedy is frequently prescribed for these symptoms among the insane,
and is of great service in affording relief to the oversensitive.It relieves the sleeplessness of those who lie awake on account of severe
pain, such as neuralgia affecting a single nerve, or a small group of nerves.Such patients are exceedingly cross and irritable, and indulge in
frequent jerkings of the limbs and twitchings of groups of muscles.It is a remedy that has acquired much fame on account of its success in
relieving the sleeplessness of children, and of weak and nervous women.China
General Action
China
acts upon the
ganglionic nervous system, and hence it affects especially the functions of vegetative life.China
changes both the
quantity and the quality of the blood.Under its influence the blood becomes more fluid than normal.
The circulation becomes impaired, and we have general debility and
erethism, followed by chills, fever, sweat, and finally hemorrhages.China
produces
congestion of the liver, obstructing the function of that organ.It produces excessive sensitiveness of the entire nervous system.
Brain and Spinal Cord
Intense congestion of the brain.
Intense throbbing headache.
Vertigo.
Ringing in the ears.
Deafness.
Blindness.
With the dizziness there is a feeling as if the head would burst.
This feeling is worse from motion or sudden anger.
Insupportable pain in small of back, like a cramp, worse from least
movement.Mind
Chooses wrong words, and makes feeble and senseless expressions.
The patient cherishes a fixed idea that he is unhappy, and that he is
persecuted by his enemies.Feels impelled to jump out of bed.
Wants to destroy himself, but lacks courage.
Is low-spirited, gloomy, and has no desire to live.
Cherishes an uncontrollable anxiety.
And above all, is stubborn and disobedient.
Patients are sometimes sent to insane asylums because they have been made
insane, in my opinion, not alone by the diseases from which they suffered, but also by a
blind, reckless and unwarrantable use ofCinchona, or its alkaloids, given in overpowering and
disastrous doses.Cinchona
, if unwisely
used, may become as dangerous in its effects as the excessive use of alcoholic stimulants.Sleep
Irresistible desire to sleep after eating.
Constant yet unrefreshing sleep.
Or at times sleepless from ideas crowding too rapidly upon each other.
(AlsoApis and Coffea).
The patient is bent upon making plans for the future, hence his sleep is
short and unrefreshing.Accompaniments
Loss of appetite slow digestion thin, watery, involuntary diarrhea
weakness and disability from long continued sickness, and from excessive losses of fluid
from the body.Fever recurring. At somewhat regular intervals.
Special Sphere of Action
Melancholia and sub acute mania when there are general anemia, profound
debility, and tendency to periodical aggravation of all the symptoms.Cicuta Virosa
General Action
This drug is a cerebro-spinal irritant, producing epileptiform
convulsions, tetanus, and generally tonic and clonic spasms.Brain and Spinal Cord
Severe occipital headache vertigo, with opisthotonos.
Mind
Dull and stupid, or the patient indulges in weeping and howling.
Sometimes great mental excitement exists and the patient sings, shouts,
and dances.Accompaniments
Grinding of teeth.
Swelling of tongue.
Difficulty in speech.
Involuntary twitching of muscles in the arms and fingers (also
Cuprum).
Special Sphere of Action
Mental depression and anxiety, accompanied by vertigo, after traumatism.
General paralysis, with spasmodic twitchings.
Sometimes loss of consciousness.
Mental anxiety, with violent hiccough.
Cicuta is one of the most effective remedies for persistent
hiccoughing known in the Materia Medica.
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