Psychosomatic aspects of shame in homeopathy

The affect of shame is one of the most common signals between human beings. Shame is primarily an intersubjective phenomenon.

By means of Heinrich v. Kleist's famous text „Über das Marionettentheater“ the role of another person's look as a root of the affect of shame is illustrated. The recognizing or devaluing eye of a beloved person is an important message creating self-confidence.

First the common sources of shame are described using the background of psychoanalytic literature and translated into the language of homeopathic rubrics. There are many expressions of shame in our repertories concerning different themes: being ugly, bodily disfigured, shame about excrement, the odour of the body, as well as feelings of being unworthy, not appreciated, of failure.

The way of communication with other people is more or less affected by conflicts of shame. By focusing the contact to our patients there are a lot of valuable observations which can be translated into rubrics: the kind of moving, the gesture, the voice, the laughing, but also expressions of the body like redness of the face, trembling, perspiration.

The reactions or compensations of shame – the interruption of contact or an exaggerated extroversion, immoderate expressions of feelings, shamelessness, dirtiness or, conversely, fastidiousness – can be interpreted as a form of defence.

Some symptoms of Hahnemann's proving of Alumina are investigated concerning the feelings and expression of shame. Besides the dreams and delusions of Alumina the somatic pathology will be considered in its possible relation to the affects of shame.

My purpose is to make a link between the treasure of observations based on homeopathic provings and a psychodynamic approach.

Keywords:

Shame in psychoanalysis and in homeopathy, observations in the patient, repertorisation, Alumina.

Schlüsselwörter:

Scham in der Psychoanalyse und Homöopathie, Beobachtungen am Patienten, Repertorisation, Alumina.

Korrespondierender Autor: Gisela Foerster, Zollernstr. 2, D-78462 Konstanz, Germany

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