The Anacardium patient does not merely shows the characteristics of split personality but instead it shows a complete picture of Schizophrenia. Before dealing with the mental picture of Anacardium, it is necessary to understand what are the basic characters of a split personality or a schizophrenic patient. So for the same reason, I quote the following text from the book “Introduction to Psychology” by ‘Hilgard and Atkinson’:
“The word ‘schizophrenic’ is derived from the Greek word schizen (“to split“) and phren (“mind“). The split does not refer to multiple personalities, but rather to a splitting of the thought process from emotions. The primary characteristics of schizophrenia can be summarized as under:
- Disturbance of affect: The schizophrenic does not show emotions in a normal way. He usually appears dull and pathetic, or he may display inappropriate emotions.
- Withdrawal from active interchange with the realistic environment: The schizophrenic loses interest in the people and events around him.
- Autism: Withdrawal from reality is usually accompanied by absorption in an inner fantasy world. The state of self-absorption is known as autism.
- Delusion and hallucination: The most common delusions of the schizophrenic are the beliefs that external forces are trying to control his thoughts and actions (delusions of influence) or that certain people or groups are persecuting him (delusion of persecution). Auditory hallucinations are more common than visual ones-the schizophrenic frequently hears voices. When persecutory delusions or hallucinations are predominant, the person is called paranoid. He may become suspicious of friends or relatives, fear that they are poisoning him, complain that he is being watched, followed and talked about.
- Bizarre behavior: the schizophrenic’s behavior may include peculiar gestures, movements, and repetitive acts that make no sense to the observer but are closely related to the schizophrenics fantasy world.
- Disturbed thought process.”
After this basic discussion on schizophrenia, the mental symptoms of Anacardium are being listed in rubric forms. After going through the psychologists view-point given above and that of the homeopaths observation being listed below, no wise man will be left in any doubt as to the extent to which Anacardium presents the picture of split personality/ schizophrenia.
The mental symptoms of Anacardium depicting the Schizophrenic traits are:
Anxiety:
Pursued as if, when walking
Beside oneself, being
Caress:
Caressing husband and child, then pushes away
Chaotic, confused behavior
Confusion of mind
Identity: duality, sense of
Contradict, disposition to
Delusions/ Illusions/ Hallucinations:
Bed, someone is in, with him
Call someone
With name, the absent mother or sister
Child, is not hers
Dead, corpse on a bier, he himself was
Dead persons, sees
Devil, he is
Devil speaking in one ear, angel in the other, prompting to murder
Double, of being
Husband, he is not her
Mind and body are separated
People, sees
Behind him, someone is
Persecuted, he is
Person is in the room, another
Possessed, being
Soul, body was too small for
Soul, body separated from
Superhuman control, is under
Three persons, he is
Voices, hears
Calling his name
Wills, possessed of two
Dream, as if in a
Duality, sense of
Fear, apprehension
Behind, someone is
Devil, of being taken by
People, of
Poisoned, of being
Gestures, automatic
Memory, weakness of
Names, for proper
Persons, for
Read, for what has
Seen, for everything he has
Word, of
Mistakes
Confounds future with past
Present with future
Mood, alternating
Recognize: relatives, does not recognize his
Strange, everything seems
Thoughts persistent
Separated, mind and body are
Two trains of thought
Unfeeling, hard hearted
Will, contradiction of
Two wills, feels as if he had.
The above illustration clearly indicates that Anacardium covers a lot of common and rare symptoms of Schizophrenia/Split personality disorder and can prove useful as a homeopathic medicine for this disorder.
