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Baryta sulphuricaBaryta sulphurica is a remedy which I have prescribed mostly upon the symptom 'dreams that she is

laughed at by her partner'. This symptom can't be found anywhere in the literature, so initially it is noteasy to know what to do with it. Not until we use the group analysis can we throw light on to thisdream, because this dream mirrors the essence of Bar-s.

ConceptsBarytaRidiculedSmall, futileRetardedHidingShynessSulphuricaClothingBeauty, grace, harmonyJoyLove and relationshipsJealousyGroup analysisThe theme then becomes the idea that they are ridiculed by their partner. They feel very insecure in

their relationship and their attitude is very dependent. They let the other person take all the decisionswhile they just follow. They don't feel able to build up a real relationship and take responsibility for theirpart in it. This makes the relationship very unequal. The partner usually quite likes this in the beginning,but after a while this dependency becomes irritating. The partner will start to get annoyed and when heshows his irritation he will not meet any opposition. Eventually he will just laugh at such a weakling. Andthat completes the circle, confirming the original delusion.A variation on this theme could be that Bar-s feels ridiculed because of their partner. They feel that

their partner is a ridiculous person. This might be because she is not beautiful or he is not handsome,but also because (s)he is perhaps handicapped or retarded. They are inclined to choose such a person

anyway, because they feel themselves to be so weak too. So if they choose a weak partner there will beless chance of being overwhelmed by them. Another subtle way of doing this is to choose a very smallpartner.The next variation might be that they feel that love itself is ridiculous. Feelings of love, closeness etc.

make them feel insignificant and worthless. They will start to hide these feelings for fear of beinglaughed at. In the end they may have suppressed their feelings of love to such an extent that they can'tfind them anymore. They have forgotten that they have any such softness and gentleness inside them.

Their outward appearance can become very coarse and blunt. Or they may seem very neutral, likesomeone who keeps himself strictly under control. A situation that could cause this might be a timeduring puberty when they are being teased and laughed at for falling in love.A final variation can be that they think they are not beautiful or handsome enough. For instance

because of their clothes, or the way they are built. They are afraid that people will laugh at their'ridiculous' appearance. The only symptom in the repertory that comes near this theme is 'company,

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unsociable, difficulty making contact'.CaseA woman, aged 42, comes with bronchial asthma. She gets tonsillitis with bronchitis several times a

year and usually gets treated with antibiotics. The pain in the throat radiates to her left ear and is agg.swallowing. She coughs a lot, agg. dry rooms, agg. in the morning on getting up, agg. lying on the left

side (3), amel. sitting. She has pain in the sternum from coughing and when she coughs up some greenmucus she feels better.The cough is also aggravated by chemical smells, such as paint or petrol, ammonia, and burning smells.

The dyspnoea is agg. dry, east wind, agg. going from warm to cold, and agg. drinking cold and warm. Sheis allergic to dust mite and fur of small animals.The complaints started 5 years ago with itching palms and soles of the feet. She had some small blisters

filled at first with fluid and later on with pus. She was apparently allergic to nickel and formaldehyde.She has a bad taste in her mouth and her mouth is dry.Her eyes are sometimes swollen, with yellow discharge. She is tired.She has lost her voice and her sense of smell. She has polyps in the sinuses.Past history: as a child she had itching skin agg. wool. Many ear infections on the right side. Also

infection of the kidneys, appendicitis, ovarian cysts and cysts in her right breast. Seasickness (2).General characteristicsPhysique: robustTemperature: agg. heat (2) and sun. agg. dry (3) hard wind, agg.- thunderstorm, -amel. storm. agg. mist.

agg.- draught.Time: agg. morning. agg. 5 am.Desires: sweet, chocolate, spices (3), sour, fruit, meat; thirsty.Aversion: sprouts, rice (2). agg. dry, hard food. agg. chocolate, beans, peas, garlic (2), food containing

nickel.Menses: stomach cramps on the first day; moody and weepy (2) before menses, with desire to clean

the house (3).Sleep: on the right side; she talks, snores (3) and moans in her sleep. agg. sleeping long.Childhood: Until she was 12 she had a happy childhood. After that her parents were often quarrelling

and when she was 15 they got divorced. She used to feel very lonely at that time. During her teenageyears she was often very quick tempered. Her father used to beat her a lot. She then developed theattitude 'You must never show what you really feel'.Mind: She gives the impression of being a robust and rather reserved person. She does feel for others,

but on the other hand she is rather dominating, organising everything for her sister or for others atwork. She has explosions of temper sometimes, especially if she has bottled up her anger for a longtime. She says exactly what she feels about a situation, which sometimes leads to trouble at work. She

often feels moody or depressed. The fact that she does not have a job any longer makes it even worse.Work: She worked for 23 years looking after mentally handicapped people, which she enjoyed very

much. She was told to leave because of a conflict with the head of her department, who thought her toooutspoken. She herself feels that she was forced to resign because of her lesbian relationship.Relationship: She has had a relationship with a woman for 10 years. This woman periodically drinks a lot

and is often very depressed, and even tried to commit suicide once. She herself finds it all quite difficult,

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and says 'Sometimes I have had it up to here'. She is worried about her friend and hates to see hersuffering. At other times she gets very angry with her because of her irresponsible behaviour, especiallywith fire. She gets even more furious when she gets no reaction, 'as if she is speaking to a brick wall'.Once she gave her friend a slap, but immediately regretted this.In the course of her treatment the problems with her friend increased, until her friend was taken to

hospital with acute psychosis. Her friend blamed her for this and left for America. When she came backshe had new girlfriends.She herself is very upset, doesn't know where she stands anymore. She is very jealous and wants to

keep her girlfriend. Because she is so afraid of losing her she doesn't dare to force anything. Then shehas a dream: there is a party at their house and she is walking towards her friend. Suddenly her friendturns around and starts ridiculing her, while everyone suddenly becomes silent. This dream makes herfeel very alone, it makes her shiver, with a feeling as if there was a stone in her stomach.AnalysisThere are many reasons for giving Sulphur: agg. sleeping late, agg. heat, agg. 5 am., agg. wool, desire for

sweet, chocolate and spices. Her reaction on Sulphur was not bad, and yet the improvement was onlyabout 20% and without any mental amelioration. After a while she had the dream of being laughed at byher girlfriend. This theme is typical of Bar-c, but Bar-c did not fit the picture. She is definitely not timid,quite the opposite, she is a bit too assertive. She is also not a very dependent type, except in herrelationship. This is where she feels dependent and this is where she was laughed at. That is what mademe think of Bar-s instead of Bar-c.ReactionAfter Bar-s 1M her complaints gradually decreased. She did however have the polyps removed by

surgery after a few months. So Bar-s was not able to bring about a complete cure in this case. But it didbring a great improvement. Mentally she felt much stronger, felt she could 'tackle the world again'. Thefollowing year she was able to improve her relationship with her friend and she also started to do somecourses again.Picture of baryta sulphuricaEssence: The idea that they will be ridiculed by or because of their lover. The rela-tionship is a cause for

ridicule.

Mind: They feel very insecure in their relationship. They adopt very dependentbehaviour. They also feel that they can't exert any influence on their relationship or on their partner.

They feel that they are at the mercy of the other person. This passive attitude hands over all the powerto the other partner, who may start to abuse this. Their attitude becomes more and more servile.Eventually the partner may start to ridicule and despise them.Another situation can be that of a teenager who feels silly when he or she falls in love. If they get teased

and laughed at because of their love affairs they will start to hide or suppress their feelings. After a while

they will not be able to access their feelings anymore and will feel very awkward when there is anymention of love. They might also start to behave in a very silly way when they fall in love.They also feel unsure about their appearance and their clothes. They soon have the feeling that they

look ridiculous.Another expression of the theme might be that their behaviour appears very rough and blunt. This

again because of their delusion that feelings are ridiculous, espe-cially feelings of love, harmony and

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grace. It is better not to show these feelings, in case others will laugh at them. They might even hidetheir own feelings to such an extent, that they lose all contact with them.General characteristics:Location: left sidedTemperature: warm

Time: agg. 5 am.Desires: sweet, chocolate.Complaints:Pressing pains.Weakness. Emaciation.Dementia. Idiocy. Retarded development. Dwarfishness.Swelling of glands, cancer of the glands.Tonsils swollen and inflamed.Pain in heart, radiating to throat. Arteriosclerosis. Varicose veins.