– Jan Scholten
Concepts
Single Bromatum
All or nothing Guilt
Disconnected Restless, escape
No integration Passion, instinct
Psychotic
Group analysis
Let us have a look at Bromium itself. The ‘all or nothing’ aspect of the single elements provides us with the theme of Bromium in the form of feeling totally guilty, or not feeling guilty at all. The aggressive side of the Bromatums is most obvious in Bromium itself. It is therefore quite similar to medorrhinum in this aspect, as well as in their passion.
The guilty feeling is also very strongly present in Bromium. In the repertory we find the symptoms ‘delusion people behind her’, and ‘delusion people looking over her shoulder’.
Case
(taken by Rienk Stuut)
A man, aged 25, comes with acne in the face and on his back. It is a severe form of acne, with large boils, leaving scars. () stretching the back. He is restless and can’t find a comfortable position. The tumour proved to be malignant. During that period he had a dream about a mongol in a psychiatric institution,who outwardly appeared to be very friendly, but who proved to be a terrible beast in reality. He twice managed to escape from this institution, leaving behind a pool of blood and destruction.
Past history: Bronchitis many times as a child. Pseudo croup. Pfeiffer.
Childhood: He was a short-tempered little boy, even quite destructive. On the one hand he wanted people to like him, but he often quarrelled with other children. At school he always fought with another boy for the attention of his teacher (a woman). He kicked and punched and if he couldn’t win he used to run home crying. His father then used to go outside to punish those other boys. All his emotions are very intense. He can also be very cheerful, happy, laughing a lot. He feels that his parents were over-protective, taking away his ability to stick up for himself.
Mind: He studies at the academy of ‘expression’. Before that he worked with mentally handicapped people for four years. He stopped this because he wanted to start doing artistic things. He finds it difficult to concentrate on one thing, and he usually puts his energy in doing several things at once. The same thing counts for his relationships. He used to have relationships with both men and women. He feels that he needs more than one relationship in order to get enough love and nurturing.
When there are problems within any of these relationships, he quickly feels guilty and wants to solve it straight away.
He often feels that there is someone behind him who disapproves of him.
He is very impulsive and works in bursts of energy. He is also restless, continually moving his legs.
Fears: height, accidents, what might happen.
General characteristics:
Temperature: cold feet and buttocks. (>) sea.
Desires: sweet, chocolate, milk, cheese.
Aversion: beer. ()fresh air, (>) sea (3), (