Sepia - The Reluctant Female
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2004 Sep / Oct VOL VI NO 5.
Compiled by
T K Kasiviswanathan
'Sep
In his masterly exposition on Sepia - a study in perspective, our respected teacher Dr K N Kasad states that the essence of Sepia lies in a failure to accept the passive feminine role in life. This rejection results in suppression of all feminine impulsive, instinctual urges, including suppression of sexual function. Biologically this suppression of sexual drive and feminine traits distorts all life activities, bringing about disorders at various levels of soma and psyche, as under:
- Circulatory disturbances - different vasomotor effects
- Congestive disorders ie venous stasis
- Ptosis
- A state of general spasticity and rigidity involving both voluntary and involuntary muscle groups and organs;
- A state of nervous irritability and emotional instability".
Dr Kasad continues: "At the emotional level, this 'masculine protest' makes woman a bustling, nervous, fidgety opinionated shrew. She is restless, anxious, depressed, sad, silent, solitary and weepy (especially when narrating her symptoms.)"
"She is sensitive, easily offended, moody, fault-finding with an aversion to company, yet with a fear of being alone. Averse to consolation. Stilled affections with indifference to loved ones, especially family members (the husband in particular). She is at variance with herself, her family, at her place of occupation and in society. She is therefore a misfit in life."
"She has limited powers of adaptation to the environment, both emotional and physical. Suppressed hostile impulses express themselves in a multitude of psychosomatic disorders."
Dr (late) Sarla Sonawala coined a phrase "he-woman" to sum up a Sepia personality. She poetically describes the scenario thus:
"Do not espouse a Sepia spouse
Else you'll have ample time to grouse
And if you too are such
You will blow up your house."
On the other hand, Dr Philip M Bailey says in his book Homoeopathic Psychology that Sepia is predominantly a female type and she is her own unique version of a woman. She is naturally independent and unlike Natrum she is just being herself and refusing to let other people mould her personality to their own ends. This independence sometimes gives her certain masculine appearance to others. Sepia woman, according to him, has less of a front and her independence results from her celebration of her own uniqueness and the sense of power she receives from her own connection with her body and earth. This sense of power is feminine and depends on being sensitive to one's body.
Dr Clarke in his introduction on this remedy in his Dictionary quotes Teste saying that it is suited to young people of both the sexes or rather persons between pubescence and the critical period of life; of delicate constitutions, with pure white skins or skins having a rosy tinge and particularly such as those who are exhausted by sexual excesses.
Dr Kent describes Sepia as suited to tall, slim women with narrow pelvis and lax fibers and muscles; such a woman is not well-built as a woman. With hips of a well-built man she is not built for child bearing; to a great extent the remedy seems to abolish the ability to feel natural love and to be affectionate.
Let us learn about this remedy from several interesting cases discussed below:
Mental Symptoms Cases
Case 1: Do Not Change My Personality
A 16-yr-old girl was brought by her mother to Dr Meena Mankani for the treatment of amenorrhea since 8 months.
The patient was very short (4'11") and sat absolutely straight and stiff and her facial expressions exhibited rebellion, assertiveness and defiance. She was shabbily dressed and untied hair in sharp contrast to her neatly dressed up mother.
Her mother said that the girl was lazy and a poor eater and was not interested in anything; nor worried about her health or looks. At this stage the patient sharply retorted: "Mummy keeps on lecturing me all the time for everything, which is damn irritating. The more she nags me, the more I do not feel like doing things."
The girl was the youngest of 3 children and there were two elder brothers. Due to financial problems and as she could not manage all the three children as she was suffering from spondylitis, the mother sent this daughter to her mother for rearing till she was 11 years of age.. This separation from her mother made an indelible impression on the young child and she felt that her mother was discriminating against her and devoted greater attention to her brothers for which she could not forgive her mother. Her father had an electronics business in Dubai and hence was away and the girl was not fond of him. There were frequent quarrels with her brothers because of her jealousy and her brothers were also not kind to her. Her mother said that the patient was rude and disobedient and was never interested in any of the activities in which girls of her age were prone to and no amount of goading would make her do them. She would do only those things that give her importance and attention, like being CR of her class. She was also 'money minded' adding that her daughter said that if she made a lot of money she would not give her mother a single penny even if she was in dire need of it.
The girl said the following of herself:
I am certainly very lazy. Even if I am thirsty I never get up to drink water and may go without it. I am also extremely short tempered and as a child I would scratch my face when angry. I am a totally disinterested being" Though her mother had given her a lot of clothes she was not interested in wearing them. She was not also studying and passed by copying. "I am vengeful like my Scorpio sign" I had no friends in school and nobody liked me as I was not intelligent. But in college, I made friends by being extra nice to everyone. I am very famous and that is why I won my CR elections. Also a CR gets a lot of importance and is very popular" In reply to a query as to why she wanted to be popular, she said "if you are popular you get a lot of attention and you can get above other people."
Appetite and Cravings: Poor eater, too lazy to get up and eat even if very hungry. Literally lives on chocolates; loves pickles and ice-creams;
Thirst: Zero
Urine: Very scanty and lazy to get up even when there is urge.
Menses: Menarche at the age of 12; she had very high fever before the first menses which subsided after the flow started, period now regular and many times got fever before the onset of menses. Acne before menses; flow normal and washable stain. No mood changes during menses.
Sleep: Always lies on abdomen with salivation but sleep is not refreshing. No particular dreams.
Thermal: Hot patient; vomiting while traveling in bus, train, car or plane, cannot tolerate tight clothes around neck and chest.
At the conclusion of the interview the patient said: "I heard that you can change a person's personality. I want to be as I am. You just bring my menses back and that is all."
Analysis of the case:
Separation from her mother at a young age when she needed her love and attention had embittered her and she felt that she was not as important as her brothers. Father was abroad and nowhere in the picture and mother was the culprit; she felt forsaken. Her defiance of not doing anything her mother wanted her to do was her way of getting back: being an embarrassment to her mother, she was taking revenge on her mother. As she told the doctor not to change her personality it was clear that being revengeful was her survival mechanism. She was thus estranged from her family. She was obstinate, quarrelsome and averse to studies and there was loss of ambition, though wanted attention to be paid to her. The following rubrics were taken to arrive at the similimum.
SR I 444 Estranged from her family
SR I 1 Abrupt, harsh
SRI 201 Defiant
SRI 185 Contrary
SRI 787 Obstinate
SRI 798 Positiveness
SRI 806 Mocking, sarcasm
SRI 806 Quarrelsome
SRI 104 Aversion members of family to
SRI 117 Business, averse to
SRI 624 Indolence
SRI 616 Indifference family to his
SRI 611 Indifference, business affairs to
SRI 618 Indifference loved ones to
SRI 620 Indifference, relations to
SRI 25 Ambition, loss of
SRI 928 Sits, stiff, quite
SRI 39 Anger, violent
Her concomitant physical generals and modalities were:
KR 1288 Fever before menses;
SRII 229 Food+ drinks and chocolate desire
SRII 261 Food, Pickles desire
SRII 563 Riding in cars, wagons Agg
SRII 1254 Sleep unrefreshing;
KR 471 Throat- external, clothing Agg
PH 107 Acne , menses before
SRIII 523 Menses absent
And combined repertorization leads to Sepia as the remedy.
Rx Sepia 10M on 31-1994. Asked to report after a month.
When the patient reported back on 1st March 1994 she had not got her menses yet and there was no change in her other conditions either.
Dr Meena felt perhaps the potency was not adequate and hence gave a dose of Sepia 50M.
The next day patient developed high fever 104°F; was very irritable, crying; wanted to be left alone; headache +++ < coughing and moving eyes. Nausea ++; feeling very chilly with icy coldness of hands and feet.
Taking note of the fact that the patient had high fever before her first menses and as the present symptoms after repertorization still pointed to Sepia, it was decided to wait and watch.Placebo given. The fever lasted for 3 days and on the fourth day she got her menses and fever came down with menstrual flow. On the next follow-up, doctor saw a smiling and well dressed girl. She continued to improve and in the next follow - up told Dr Mankani "Doctor. I am told that I am mean and selfish. Could you please help me overcome it?" Sepia 50M and CM repeated at infrequent intervals transformed the girl and relieved of her complaints and she continued to maintain good health
(I am not OK- You are not OK- Dr Meena Mankani, NJH 50th Issue March-April 2000
Case 2: Ovarian Cyst Mrs P, 29 yr consulted Dr Roopa R. Nayak on 15th April 1999 for her ovarian cyst and pain during menses, weakness and infertility. She had been earlier operated upon for ovarian cyst in 1997; no history of diabetes, BP or menstrual irregularities. Her elder sister also had the similar complaint of ovarian cyst but there was no family history of other serious illnesses.
First menarche at the age of 13; irregular cycles and scanty discharge of dark red colour with clots. Pain during menses radiating to her back and headache.
Patient as a Person
Weeping while thinking about her complaints and wept during the interview; Brooding++ over disagreeable things; irritable and conceals her feelings; Fear++ of being alone +, in night++ and in the presence of strangers; Indolent towards external affairs. Consolation > and likes company.
Sleep good. Dreams not remembered. Desires spicy food and pickles; Aversion to sweets, ghee and butter; Thirst good and Perspiration increased ++- non offensive and not staining. Chilly patient.
