Author:
Maarten van der Meer
Book:
Evolution of analysis
Type:
Case
Chapter:
3-655.35.10
Mimulus guttatus
Remedy code: 3-664.56.02
A 55-year-old woman, she looks young, has a build like a teenager, has adult children, and runs a massage practice. Her movements are coarse, she sits often with a slightly hunched posture, projecting an attitude of "it cannot be avoided". She has had a massage practice for years and has been in therapy, driven by an interest in health and seeking ways to feel better. In her youth, she was melancholy; now she is doing well and has worked on herself a lot. Since last year, she’s been going through menopause, which began very abruptly. She mostly suffers from night sweats, large drops, especially on her back. It’s bothersome, wakes her up, it feels uncomfortable and impractical. At night, it feels stifling; she doesn’t get up to change, and it always happens after 2 a.m. She also sweats a little during the day, a few times on her forehead when she’s stressed. What stress means: when many things happen at once, and she thinks, "I’m running out of time." Things over which she seems to have no control. She’s involved in many things, her own business, she is often on the road. She often feels rushed; five years ago, due to a study, she let everything fall out of her hands; it was too much, she collapsed. She wanted to work more with people, but after three years, she stopped that sudy. Since then, she’s left everything, it overwhelms her. No cleaning, just helping out, feeling the pressure of time. She spends a lot of time gardening and is involved in music, and performing, which requires band rehearsals. She has been singing her entire life. A performance is always extremely stressful; she knows it sounds good, but everyone has opinions: you’re a target. The course that failed: she is always looking for what she needs to do for herself to stay stable. She is a good listener. In the course, she discovered a lot of fears and depression within herself, things she hadn’t realized about herself. She had become accustomed to living with them and was somber. The course gave her a sense of connection with others, what she missed a lot. Therapy revealed tension with her mother, who was strict and angry, often shouting. As a child, she felt scared, anxious, small, insignificant, and could freeze up. Her father was often absent, frequently depressed, and sometimes left home. She was the sixth child. Twenty-five years ago, she had many emotional problems, feeling at odds with herself due to gender issues and not fitting into family and society. She improved with Indium metallicum.
Analysis
Classe 6: extensive self-work, therapy-oriented, aware of her shadow (theme of the Lanthanides, analogous to Classe 6). The theme of control and her depression. Desire to help people, to make them better.
Classe 5: singing, presenting herself, performing.
Phase 5: her mother placed pressure on her, tension. She wanted more herself, restlessness.
Phase 6: Father was often gone, literally and figuratively. Breakdown, giving up.
Lamiales: appreciation, group feeling, wanting to belong: Labiaceae, extrapolated to the Lamiales.
Stage 2: dependency, feeling small and insignificant, freezing up. Performing: what do they think of me? Mimulus: she finds it difficult to name her feelings, often saying "I don’t know, could it be that."
Prescription: Mimulus guttatus C200.
Follow-up
It was quite remarkable, the day after taking it, the sweating suddenly stopped. Everything is fine, day and night. However, there was something that was not fine, something else. She finds it difficult to explain, a "uhm" feeling, she doesn’t know. After three weeks, she suddenly had a period (her menses had been gone for a year), then the sweating returned, and that strange "uhm" feeling went away. She is cheerful but still has less energy. The rushed feeling is returning, she wants to do something, but her energy is really low; sleeping helps her recover. She’s always needed a lot of sleep, and she regrets that. When she still lived at home, she was full of energy; everything was fun. Getting up at 6 a.m., taking on leadership at work, making long days. She doesn’t know when it diminished. Now she gets emotional more quickly, with tears in her eyes; she is highly sensitive and picks up a lot of signals. The joy of life she feels is limited; it’s disappointing that she needs so much sleep now. After two months, the sweating has stopped, and the difficult feeling, now described as "feeling trapped," has now been corrected (she still finds it difficult to name the feeling). She feels comfortable in her self, the fatigue is less, she has felt good lately, and no longer needs naps. Over the past months, she has been working in the garden a lot, spending time in the sun, and doing physical outdoor work. She no longer feels as rushed, although there’s still a list of chores, but it used to weigh heavier. It sometimes feels overwhelming, but those are moments. Work is "no idea," she thinks it’s less stressful. It’s an easier feeling: "I no longer have to pull all the weight." She no longer takes daytime naps, and hasn’t felt "out." Things she used to do now don’t come as easily; memory isn’t as sharp as in her youth. It used to bother her often, "Am I deteriorating?" In the following years, she feels fine.
Confirmations in the follow-up that emerge include her fatigue, and the theme of deterioration: Phase 6, wanting more, and going further: Phase 5. Feeling insecure about everything (especially her development, capabilities, autonomy of Classe 6, and self-presentation of Classe 5), uncertainty aligns with Stage 2, feeling doubtful. Highly sensitive: Classe 5, fatigue emerged during times of sadness, theme of personal identity, Classe 6, uncertainty about it is Stage 2. Joy of life: Labiaceae. Underestimating oneself (Stage 2) in her relationships (Phase 6).
Descriptions in Qjure, from the Bach flowers: Repression of strong emotions. Fear of one’s shadow, instincts, lower emotions, anger. Explosions, rage, raw emotions. During her youth, all of this played a role, leading to explosive tension, relationship problems, and doubts. This improved after Indium metallicum, but it seems to be the base, where Mimulus is appropriate.