An attempt to classify mind rubrics of Kent’s repertory

Dr Aleena Thomas

ABSTRACT
Dr Kent has divided the mental generals under the heading will and emotion, understanding and intellect and memory. In ‘Repertory of the homoeopathic materia medica’, the Mind chapter has not been categorised under these domains. This is an attempt to categorise the rubrics of mind chapter of Kent’s repertory under the headings will, emotion, understanding and intellect and memory.

Key words: Mental generals, Will and Emotion, Understanding and Intellect, Memory

INTRODUCTION
Mental symptoms play a very vital role in unfolding the true image of the disease but practically it is very difficult to obtain this from the sick person and also difficult to understand and interpret them correctly. According to the Kentian philosophy mental generals are the most important symptoms of a patient and given primary importance in his repertory which has been classified under the following headings

1. Perversions of Will and Emotion

Will means ‘The desire or wish’¹

Emotion means ‘A strong feeling deriving from one’s circumstances, mood or relationships with others.’²

2. Perversions of understanding and intellect

Understand means ‘perceive the intended meaning of (words, a language or a speaker)’²

Intellect means ‘the faculty of reasoning and understanding objectively, especially with regard to abstract matters’²

3. Perversions of memory

Memory means ‘the faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information’²

Kent followed an alphabetical arrangement of rubrics even in the mind chapter for the purpose of easy reference which made it difficult task for users to quickly find the rubrics under the above mentioned categories.

Here the mind rubrics of Kent’s repertory are tried to classify in the following manner. 

Will	Emotion	Understanding and Intellect	Memory
Abrupt Activity desires Ambition loss of Amusement Antagonism Apathy Ardent Asks for nothing Audacity Automatic Avarice Aversion Bashful Bathing Bed aversion to Begging Biting Black Blindness Boldness Break things Business aversion to Busy Calmness Calumniate Capriciousness Carefulness Careless Cautious Censorious Chases Children, aversion to Circumspection Confidence Confiding Conscientious Colour aversion to Company aversion to Contented Contention Contradict disposition to Contradiction is intolerant of Contrary Conversation agg. Cosmopolitan Counting continually Courageous Covetous Cowardice Crazy Critical Croaking Dancing Deafness, pretended Deceitful Deeds Defiant Desires Despises Destructiveness Dictatorial Dipsomania Disagreeable Discouraged Disobedience Distrustful Disturbed aversion to being Diversion amel Dogmatic Domineering Doubtful Dream Drinking after Duplicity Earnestness Eat, refuses to Eccentricity Egotism Escape, attempts to Exercise Extravagance Facetiousness Fanaticism Fastidious Fault finding Feigning sick Fickle Fidgety Fight wants to Fire wants to set things on Fitful Flattery, desires Forsakes Frivolous Frown, disposed to Fur Gaiety Gentleness Gestures, makes Godless Going Good humour Gossiping Gravity Grimaces Groping Hard hearted Hastiness Haughty Head strong Headless Hide desire to Hides things High places, agg High spirited Home, desire to go Hopeful Humour Humorous Hurry Husband aversion to Hypochondriacal Hypocrisy Hysteria Imperious Impertinence Impetuous Impulse Impulsive Inciting others Inconsistency Indifference Indiscretion Industrious Inhumanity Inquisitive Insolent Instability Introspection Irresolution Jesting Joyless Kisses, everyone Kneeling, praying Lasciviousness Lewdness Libertinism Lie Light desire for Listless Longing for things which are rejected when offered Looked at, cannot bear to be Low minded Magnetized desire to be Malicious Manual work Marriage Meddlesome Mesmerized Mildness Mischievous Miserly Mocking Moonlight Moral feeling want of Motions Murder, desire to Music aversion to Mutilating his body Naked wants to be Narrating New objects seem Noise averse to Obscene Obstinate Occupation Persist in nothing Pertinacity Phlegmatic Piety Plans, making many Playful Positiveness Power, love of Praying Precocity Presumptuous Pride Prophesying Pull Quarrelsome Questions Quick to act Quiet disposition Rashness Reading averse to Recognize Refuses Religious affections Reserved Resolute Rest Restlessness Reveals secrets Revengeful Reverence Riding Rocking Rolling on the floor Roving Rudeness Runs about Scolding Scratches Scrupulous Secretive Secrets, divulges Selfishness Sensitive Serene Sexual excess, mental symptom from Shameless Shining Shrieking Shy Silent Singing Sit inclination to Sits Sitting Slander disposition to Sneers Society Solemn Solitude Spiteful Spits Spoken Squanders money Starting Stories exciting Strange Stranger Striking Stubborn Study Succeeds, never Suggestions, will not receive Suicidal disposition Sulky Superstitious Suspicious Swearing Sympathetic Talk Talkative Talking Talks Tears things Theorizing Thinking Thoughts of death Threatening Throws things away Thunder storm before Time fritters away his Timidity Torments everyone with his complaints Touch Touched Tranquillity Travel desire to Trifles, seem important Unattractive, things seem Undertakes Unfeeling Unfortunate Unfriendly humour Unreal, everything seems Unsympathetic Untruthful Unworthy Vacillation Veneration Verses makes Vivacious Walking Wander, desire to Wants something he knows not what Washing always, her hands Well says he is Whimsical Whistling Wicked Will, contradiction of Witty Women aversion to Work aversion to mental Writing aversion to Wrong everything seems3	Abandoned Abusive Admonition agg Affectation Affectionate Agitation Amorous Anger Anguish Anthropophobia Anticipation Anxiety Apprehension Arrogance Attitudes Bad news, ailments from Bellowing Bemoaning Benevolence Blood cannot look at Brooding Cares, full of Carried Chagrin Changeable Cheerful Clinging Closing eyes amel Complaining Consolation agg Contemptuous Crawling on floor Cruelty Cursing Cut others desire to Darkness agg Death desires Dejection Deserted Despair Despondency Disconcerted Discontented, displeased, dissatisfied etc. Disgust Displeased Dissatisfied Dread Dwells Ecstasy Embarrassed Embraces companions Emotional Ennui Entertainment Envy Estranged, family from her Exaltation Excitement Exclamation Exertion Exhilaration Fear Forebodings Forsaken Frantic, frenzy Fretful Fright, complaints from Frightened  easily Fury Giggling Gloomy Grief Groaning Growling Grumbling Grunting Happy Hatred Helplessness feeling of Hilarity Home-sickness Honour, effects of wounded Hopeless Horrible things, sad stories affect her profoundly Horror Howling Hydrophobia Impatience Inconsolable Indignation Injure Irascibility Irksome Irritability Isolation, sensation of Jealousy Joy Joyous Kill   desire to Killed  desire to be Lamenting Laughing Lively Loathing Loneliness Love, ailments from disappointed Low spirits Melancholy Men, dread of Mirth, hilarity, liveliness etc Misanthropy Moaning, groaning Mood Morose Mortification Offended easily Over sensitiveness Petulant Pities herself Pleasure Rage, fury Remorse Reproaches, ailments after Repulsive mood Resentment Sadness Scorn Scream Sentimental Serious Sighing Sobbing Sorrowful Sullen Surprises Unfeeling Unfortunate, feels Vexation Vindictive Violent, vehement etc Wailing Wearisome Weary of life Weeping, tearful mood Whining Wild feeling in head Wildness	Abstraction of mind Absent minded Absorbed Air castles Answers Antics, plays Attention Attitude, assumes strange Barking Battles, talks about Benumbed Bewildered Buffoonery Business aversion to Carphologia Chaotic Culminate desire Childish Clairvoyance Cloudiness Comprehension Concentration Confusion of mind Counting objects and ideas Crazy Delirium Delusions Distance Distraction Dipsomania Drunken seems as if Dullness Faces, sees Fancies absorbed in Feces Foolish behaviour Fixed notion Ideas, abundant Idiocy Imbecility Imprudence Indolence Insanity Insensibility Intoxication Irresolution Jumping Kicks Kleptomania Locality, errors of Ludicrous Mania, madness Mania a potu Meditation Mental Mistakes Monomania Muttering Nymphomania Picking Pre-occupied Prostration of mind Quick to act Reveries Ridicule, mania to Ridiculous action Senses acute Silly Size Somnambulism Stupidity Slowness Sluggishness Smaller things appear Smiling foolish Stunned Stupidity Stupor Stupefaction Torpor Thinking Unconscious Visions Weakness	Absent minded Acuteness Aphasia Forgetful Forgotten Memory Mistakes Speech Recognise does not

DISCUSSION

Mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions, disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behaviour. Many people have mental health concerns from various stages of life.  But a mental health concern becomes a mental illness when ongoing signs and symptoms cause frequent stress and affect your ability to function. A mental illness can make you miserable and can cause problems in your daily life, such as at school or work or in relationships. In most cases, symptoms can be managed with a combination of medications and talk therapy (psychotherapy). One of the most efficacious and effective way to treat these disorders is through homoeopathic intervention.

During homoeopathic case taking, physician read the mind of the patient and try to find out the medicine based on symptom similarity. So, the mental symptoms achieve the special importance in homoeopathic prescribing. Peculiar mental symptoms and special sensations are given primary importance in homoeopathic treatment. As we know that diseases originate in the vital molecular processes, obviously, mental and physical symptoms, whether subjective or objective, are the expressions of these molecular errors. Mind, consciousness, feeling, emotions, understandings, thought, sensations, mental symptoms etc., are the functions of a complex material system, known as brain and nervous system. Homeopathy treats the patient as a whole (in mental and physical plane together) on symptoms similarity. Homoeopathy always gives more importance to patient’s subjective feelings and sensations and for their betterment.

The unique characteristic symptoms of mind will always be considered as peculiar and characteristic symptom of the patient or individual (individualization). This striking symptom helps in finding out the right remedy for easy cure. Homoeopathy makes an attempt to judge the situation quite differently, also try to use physician’s intellectual image and select the remedy accordingly. However these mind symptoms also help a homoeopathic physician to find out the right remedy through the medium of repertorization. The homoeopathic prescription has the ability to liberate vital energies locked up in the body, so that a healthier self is experienced with a greater sense of vitality, energy and well-being.⁴

Dr Kent’s ideology was greatly influenced by Swedenborgian philosophy which can be measured from his writings that are published in various places including compilations in lesser writings. Swedenborg differentiated the mind into three hierarchical structures. At the top was the “Soul”, which is represented by Will. The middle level is “Reason”, which is represented by intellect and intention. The third and last level of “Psyche” consist of Imagination, memory and desire. This is the classification Kent has used in his philosophy.⁵

Dr Kent in his ‘Lectures of philosophy’ says “The man wills and understand; the cadaver does not will and does not understands; then that which takes its departure is that which knows and wills. It is that which can be changed and is prior to the body. The combination of these two, the will and understanding, constitute a man; conjoined they make a life and activity they manufacture the body and cause all things of the body. With the will and understanding operating in order we have a healthy man. Then man is the will and understanding, and the house which he lives in is his body.”⁶

In the mind chapter of Kent’s repertory we can find more than 300 rubrics related to will, around 150 rubrics related to emotion and 86 rubrics related to intellect and understanding with few rubrics under memory. This categorisation of rubrics gives as an opportunity for quick reference of the symptoms under the corresponding headings for the accurate selection of rubrics.

CONCLUSION
Mind chapter of Kent’s repertory is being the largest chapter with more than 520 rubrics it is arranged alphabetically and not following the Kent’s philosophy of classification of mental symptoms. This is a small attempt to classify the mind rubrics of Kent’s repertory under the headings will, emotion, understanding and memory for the better understanding, interpretation and an easy selection of the mind rubrics.

REFERENCE

1. Google- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/will
2. Google- https://www.google.com/search
3. Kent J.T. Repertory of the homoeopathic materia medica. New Delhi: B Jain Publisher 1961;1-95
4. https://www.longdom.org/proceedings/importance-of-mental-symptoms-in-homoeopathy-prescribing-12647.html#:~:text=Peculiar%20mental%20symptoms%20and%20special,expressions%20of%20these%20molecular%20errors.
5. Ahmed R Munir, Fundamentals of repertories: Alchemy of Homoeopathic methodology, Hi-Line Publishers and Distributors Pvt Ltd, 2016 ;287
6. Kent J. T. A.M., M.D., Lectures on Homoeopathic Philosophy, New Delhi: B Jain Publisher 1993;21

Dr Aleena Thomas
Department of Case taking and Repertory
Under the guidance of Dr Praveen Kumar
Government Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital, Bengaluru