by Matthew Wood
Note: Curing constipation can cure depression. It is believed that this is because more serotonin is used by the autonomic nervous system than the central nervous system, and relieving this complaint improves the level of that neurotransmitter.
Dysthymia, Taedium Vitae, Indifference, Lack of Joy: • Albizia (restores capacity for joy) • Carbo vegetabilis (homeopathic; lack of joy, neither happy nor sad) • Cinchona (apathetic, indifferent, taciturn; loss of vital fluids, disposition to hurt others) • CRATAEGUS • Hydrastis (depression) • HYPERICUM (apathy, exhaustion, “living in the shadows”—D. Winston) • Oplopanax (“uncertain of right to be in the world”—Donahue) • PEUMUS (gall-bladder problems where “joy of life” has been lost—Welliver) • PHYTOLACCA (sense of apathy, indifference, disregard of surroundings/objects/affairs; small or homeopathic dose) • Polygonum multiflorum (deep exhaustion and indifference) • Podophyllum (depression of spirits; dose of fraction of a drop) • Rhodiola (fatigue) • Tabacum (despondent, discontented, forgetful) • Thuja • Turnera (restores sense of pleasure in the body—Donahue) • Vaccinium myrtillus (life is “empty or meaningless”—Bennett) • Zingiberis (“listless and dispirited”—Huang; dried rhizome).
Note: Characteristic symptoms of mild depression are loss of interest, sadness, tiredness, self-criticism, poor concentration, difficulty in making decisions, irritability, sleep problems, eating too much or too little—this commonly lasts from a few months to a year or two.
Restlessness, Irritability, Excitation: • CRATAEGUS (inability to concentrate, focus; ADD, ADHD—D. Winston; confirmed many times) • Melissa • Prunus serotina • RHEUM (“restless spirit, irritability, easily excited, and fever with sweating”—Huang) • Sambucus (exalted imagination) • Schisandra (“gathers scattered shen, astringes consciousness, returns consciousness to the heart”—Donahue) • Scutellaria (overstimulation) • TILIA (“flits from subject to subject”—Parton).
Excitement, Overstimulation: • Apium (mental debility from overstimulation) • HUMULUS (neurasthenia, debility, pain) • Hypericum • PRIMULA (nervous excitability, insomnia, anxiety) • SCUTELLARIA (prophylactic against headaches from stimulating meetings, events, nervous fear, anticipation; takes the edge off intense emotional situations).
Note: In the preceding rubric, the person is restless, while in this one they are overstimulated. The first is a deficiency state, the second an excess. In both states, heat and excitation are the issue, while in the following it is nervousness.
Nervousness, Anxiety, Hysteria: • Acorus (panic with loss of speech; dissociation) • Angelica • Apium (debilitation) • Arctium (worry, with sweaty brow) • Asafoetida • AVENA (tonic; long-term stress, frazzled nerves, hypervigilance) • Bacopa (see “Concentration” sections under “Mind,” above) • BETONICA (ungrounded, hysterical, frenzied; weary of stress) • Centella (nervous breakdown) • Chamomilla • Cimicifuga • Crataegus (tonic) • Eschscholzia (agitation, overactive nervous system) • Filipendula (nervous, restless, palpitations, hyperthyroidism) • Galium (tea or tincture) • GANODERMA (nervousness, high-stress work, anger) • GENTIANA (self-doubt) • Humulus (nervous anxiety, tension) • HYPERICUM (pain and hysteria; nerve pains) • Hyssopus • Lactuca • Lavandula (sense of panic and fainting) • LEONURUS (heart palpitations, anxiety, panic; “freaked-out look”—LeSassier) • LYCOPUS (hyper-vigilant; looks like a hunted animal—Wood) • Majorana • Melilotus (nervous headache, nerviness, nerve pains) • MELISSA (heart palpitations, stomach anxiety) • Mesembryanthemum • Monarda fistulosa (nervousness centered in the stomach) • Monotropa (overwhelming anxiety and panic, sensory overwhelm) • NEPETA (internalizes anxiety in the stomach; menstrual) • Olea (leaf) • Passiflora • Pedicularis • Piper methysticum (social anxiety, panic attacks, anxiety after steroid drug use) • Populus (hyperthyroidism, fear, anxiety, sympathetic excess, shaky sensation in stomach) • Primula (“anxiety states associated with restlessness and irritability”—BHP) • Prunus serotina • PULSATILLA (nervousness, unease, panic attacks, fear of danger; exacerbated where there is “determination of blood to the head”—Scudder) • RHODIOLA (anxiety, nervousness, frenzy, depression, stress, insomnia, restlessness, attention deficit; can aggravate the same symptoms it cures; take in the morning) • Rosmarinus • Salvia • Satureja • Schisandra • SCUTELLARIA (muscular tension, edginess, overstimulation) • Selenicereus (nervousness, insomnia, hyperthyroidism, heart palpitations) • Tilia (restlessness) • Trifolium • Turnera (anxiety neurosis) • VALERIANA (anger and nervousness) • Verbena (neurotic, uptight, driven; “thin vata women that hold their head to the side; can’t look at the world straight on”—Sedlacek; men too—Wood) • Viola (anxiety, panic, shyness) • Veronica • Viscum (tea) • WITHANIA (stress, worry, thin).
Anger, Irritability, Mental Tension: • AESCULUS HIP. (obsessive/compulsive disorder) • AGRIMONIA (pretends not to be angry; acts out) • Anagallis (rage) • BUPLEURUM (wiry, thin pulses) • CHAMOMILLA (over-expressed anger; whining, peevish, complaining) • Cucurbita citrullus • Ganoderma (stress, anger, anxiety) • Melissa (sunstroke with irritability and belligerence—Donahue) • Monotropa (sudden eruption of rage or affect from the unconscious—Donahue) • NEPETA (bullying; also those who are being bullied) • NUX VOMICA (homeopathic; turbulent, angry personality; indulges in anger) • Piper methysticum • Prunus serotina • Smilacina racemosa • STAPHYSAGRIA (homeopathic; repressed anger, violated, pissed off) • Valeriana (acute, chronic; holds anger inside, causing knots in stomach, low back) • Vinca (behavioral disorders—Weiss) • Viscum.
Forgiveness, Lack of: • Agrimonia • Artemisia absinthium (lack of pity, sympathy) • Borago (feels harshly judged by others—Wood) • Cimicifuga (brooding) • CRATAEGUS • ILEX ACQUIFOLIUM (flower essence) • LIRIODENDRON (feels unforgivable) • MONOTROPA (abuse issues) • Pinus spp. (guilt, shame) • Verbascum (harsh self talk, harsh on self—Popham).
Direction, Lack of, or Needing a New One: • Apocynum androsaemifolium (“change-or-die” situation) • AGRIMONIA (can’t find a solution; “put on papers or around house or office where there are unsolved problems”—Wood) • Betonica (addictions) • CEANOTHUS (artistic funk; can’t think their way out of a problem) • Cichorium (self-centered, childish) • Cnicus • Crataegus (stuck in materialistic rut) • Dipsacus (feels useless) • Eriodictyon (hidden obstructions) • Iris (petty addictions and self-indulgence) • Juglans spp. (dominated by another) • LACTUCA (aimlessness) • Phytolacca (laziness, apathy) • Polygonatum (needs something new in life) • Silphium integrifolium (needs a new direction—Schnell) • Quercus (broken-down, defeated, but struggles on; teaches which battles can be won) • Verbena (melancholy).
Melancholy, Creative Issues: • Acorus (writer’s block) • Artemisia vulgaris (can’t translate ideas into expression) • ANGELICA (blocked imagination; small dose, or inhale burning root) • CEANOTHUS (artistic funk; melancholy) • HYPERICUM (“fatigue, lethargy, indigestion, a dark outlook, … emotional unease, and apathy”—D. Winston) • IRIS (substitutes sumptuous and beautiful things and addictions for creative expression) • Ledum (frustration, inability to actualize goals; with GI stress) • Ligusticum porteri (blocked imagination; small dose, or inhale burning root) • MONARDA FISTULOSA (self-judgment, blockage of artistic passions) • Nuphar (stuck creativity leading to irritated frustration—Donahue) • Psilocybe • Turnera (loss of pleasure in physical aspects of creative process—Donahue).
Note: Melancholy is not the same as “depression” or “grief” but describes the “funk” that arises from stagnation of the imagination or inability to imagine solutions to creative or life issues.
Addictions, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse, and Food Cravings: • Acorus (brain fog from cannabis use; craving for alcohol) • AESCULUS HIP. (specific for obsessive/compulsive disorder) • AMMI (Ayurvedic herb for alcoholism) • ANGELICA (“the writer has known this simple remedy to work wonders”; 5 drops, 3x/day, or infusion—Parton) • Apocynum androsaemi
folium (last chance; “change or die”; 1-drop dose) • Arnica (homeopathic; for tobacco addiction) • AVENA (withdrawal from hard-drug addiction) • AGRIMONIA (pain hidden behind a façade; drugs and alcohol; herb or flower essence) • Artemisia absinthium (cannabis addiction) • Betonica (dependency on alcohol, cannabis; fresh leaf) • Capsicum (classic remedy for delirium tremens from alcohol withdrawal) • Centella (drug addiction) • Chelidonium (sensitivity to alcohol; negative effects of alcohol on liver; cf. Silybum) • Chionanthes (with liver damage) • Cimicifuga (sexual addiction; delirium tremens) • Crataegus (heroin addiction—Rogers) • Geranium maculatum (restores lost essence; people who need drugs to maintain themselves) • Humulus (withdrawal, DTs) • Hydrastis (atonic mucosa from alcoholism; bad eating habits) • Hypericum (alcohol addiction) • IRIS (hypoglycemia; addiction to sugar, shopping) • Juglans spp. (too much under the influenced of others; insufficient parenting) • Lactuca (loss of direction) • Larrea (detoxification; toxic headache) • Lobelia • Monotropa (overwhelming psychedelic experience—Donahue) • Nepeta • Nuphar (compulsive, unsatisfying sex for release of tension—Hale; confirmed—Donahue) • Nymphaea odorata (sex addiction, lascivious thoughts, pining, lovesickness) • Nux vomica (homeopathic standby for clearing recreational or medical drug residues from system, especially before treating chronic cases) • OCIMUM (traditional cannabis antidote in India; neutralizes past and long-past damage to the body from cannabis use; complex hormonal dysfunction, infertility, extreme PMS aggravation, chronic structural complaints, instability, ligamentous looseness—Davis) • Panax ginseng • Passiflora (sleeplessness; quieting effect on nervous system; opiate withdrawal, alcoholism) • Phytolacca (laziness, bad habits) • Psilocybe • Plantago • Populus tremuloides (chewing-tobacco addiction—Rogers) • Pulsatilla • QUERCUS (alcoholism, struggle against addictions; improves integrity; oft-proven remedy) • Salix nigra (lascivious thoughts and dreams) • Scutellaria (DTs, withdrawal symptoms) • SILYBUM (ill effects of alcohol on liver; cf. Chelidonium) • Sinapis nigra (deranged digestion due to alcoholism; seed) • Staphysagria (homeopathic; put-upon feeling) • Thymus • VERBENA (hormonal food cravings; sexual neurosis).
Infatuation, Lovesickness, Unrequited Love: • Datura stramonium (homeopathic; self-destructive obsession;) • Galium (OCD, tangled up feeling; this herb cleaves the relationship cleanly when over—Bowen, Wolff) • Geranium (helps separate energy between two people at the end of a relationship) • Hyoscamus (homeopathic; insane jealousy, stalking) • Inula (mourning a relationship that felt like home) • Juglans spp. (too much under the influence of another; Bach flower essence, or herb can be used the same way) • NYMPHAEA (pining, wasting, lovesickness; uncontrollable lascivious thoughts) • Origanum (romantic infatuation, relieved by running) • Prunus serotina (irregular pulse from stress on the heart) • Verbena hastata, Verbena (neurotic infatuation; impossible ideals; nymphomania, satyriasis).
Grief, Broken-Heartedness, Separation, Loss of Loved One: • ALBIZIA (heartbreak, loss) • Allium cepa (acute grief, setback) • Amygdalus (cup of the tea when receiving bad news, “to soften the blow”—Light) • Avena (nervous exhaustion) • Crataegus (heartbreak) • Geranium (separates one’s energy from another; failed marriage, relationship, or business) • Ignatia (homeopathic; helps one get through the initial trauma of death or bereavement) • Inula (grief from lost home or lost love; “wrong-planet syndrome”—Donahue, Tucker) • Marrubium (chronic grief) • Monarda fistulosa (self-judgment) • Nymphaea (weakness, exhaustion, “watchings, pinings, wasting and consumption”—Salmon) • Ocimum (not recovering from grief—D. Winston) • Prunus serotina (misuse of heart by another; irregular pulse) • Rhodiola (fatigue from heartache, loss of a loved one) • ROSA • SELENICEREUS (broken-heartedness, irregular pulse) • Symplocarpus (deep grief, often ancestral) • Viscum.
Bipolar Disorder, Manic/Depression: • Astragalus • Crataegus • Eleutherococcus • Leonurus • Rhodiola (reported to aggravate manic/depression) • TARAXACUM (mapped tongue, neck tension; use the tongue to monitor: as the condition gets better the “mapping” goes away; root—Wood).
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): • AESCULUS HIP. (tortured by one’s own thoughts; “quick” pulse; Dr. Bach’s “White Chestnut” works as a flower essence, herb, or homeopathic remedy) • BETONICA (scattered thoughts going around and around; obsessive thinking; worry about alien abduction, chemtrails, invisible influences) • GALIUM (obsessive and tangled-up thoughts) • NYMPHAEA (lascivious, obsessive, romantic, sexual thoughts, pining) • PASSIFOLIA (“quick” pulse).
Dyspraxia (trouble dealing with people in groups; trouble with balance): • Phytolacca (Dowling).
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): • Acorus (dissociation) • Anagallis (rage) • Artemisia spp. (dehumanizing experiences; deadened feeling) • Astragalus • Betonica (“out-of-the-body” feeling) • Borago (severe, long-lasting nervous strain) • BUPLEURUM (can bring up memories too precipitously) • Centella • Cimicifuga (apathy after PTS; recovery of memory and sequestered parts; use with caution for this purpose—Donahue) • Eleutherococcus (worn out) • Ganoderma (“metabolizes experience; memories may resurface in dreams”—Donahue) • Gentiana (self-doubt; worse from setback, shock) • Gnaphalium (ancestral or multigenerational trauma—Native American usage) • Lactuca (prolonged emotional suffering, aimlessness) • Lobelia • Humulus • Lycopus (anxious, feels like a hunted animal) • Melissa (combine with Crataegus) • Monotropa (dissociation) • Nepeta (bullying issues) • Oplopanax (restores boundaries and sense of safety) • Ocimum • Rehmannia (uncooked; “pericardium tonic,” restores healthy boundaries—Stickley) • Rosmarinus (to remove bad memories—LeSassier) • Ruta • Scutellaria • Tilia.
Shame: • Berberis vulgaris (secret shame, wounds hidden even from self) • Borago (feels judged by others—Wood) • Liriodendron (lack of self-forgiveness) • PINUS spp. (shame, guilt; flower essence or herb).
Shock: • ACONITUM (homeopathic; deep shock, animal fear) • Arnica (homeopathic; shock with bruising;) • Carthamus (oil-pulling—see “Poisoning”) • Ganoderma • GENTIANA (self-doubt, setback, shock, anaphylaxis) • HYPERICUM (“nervous shock from fright or fall”—Jones) • Panax ginseng (feeble pulse, shortness of breath, weakness) • Schisandra.
In thirty-five years of practice, I have only had one case of anaphylaxis from exposure to an herb. A woman in a class sniffed corn silk and exclaimed, “I’m gonna die!” as she turned white. Gentian flower essence (one can use the herb too) immediately stopped the problem. I learned use of this herb as a remedy for bee-sting and allergic reaction (from Michael Tierra’s Way of Herbs) via a student who had used it.
Healing of the Soul: • Artemisia absinthium (occasional 1-drop doses bring up old issues and heal deep wounds) • GANODERMA (“restores the heart and mind connection” and “promotes peaceful demeanor”—Sedlacek) • UMBELLULARIA (contains the entheogenic substance DMT; helps a person “dream their cure”; semi-roasted nut).
Will
Bullying, Being Bullied: • Agrimony (authority issues, acting out, making extra work for subordinates) • Borago (verbal abuse) • Cimicifuga (sullen, withdrawn) • Gentiana (doesn’t trust instincts) • NEPETA (traditional and proven remedy for the bully and the bullied) • Oplopanax • PULSATILLA (needs approval of others; young women who are easily dominated, seduced, manipulated, or bullied).
Willpower: • Acorus (“soggy will”—Donahue) • Agrimonia (subverting will to higher-ups in an organization) • Artemisia absinthium (ruthless, deadened, yet life of the party) • Chamomilla (disempowered; whining, peevish, complaining) • Chelidonium (abuse of willpower, especially with occult, spiritual practices) • Epilobium (flower essence and herb; balances, helps to master will; willful adults are tempered) • Pulsatilla (insecurity, giving away power) • Rhus spp. (lacking in will, whining, co-dependent).
FORMULARY
Acorus—with Centella (classic combination for the min
d in Ayurveda).
Albizia—with Crataegus, Rosa flos (depression, broken heart, grief, sadness). D. Winston. Well-proven, and increasingly widely used.
Avena—with Cola, Turnera, Scutellaria (depression and exhaustion). BHP 1983, 71.
Crataegus—with Tilia, Melissa, Chamomilla (attention deficit, hyperactivity). D. Winston.
Crataegus—with Avena, Bacopa, and Ocimum (attention deficit, hyperactivity). D. Winston. A beautiful combination, with mild nutritive tonic qualities.
Ganoderma—with Crataegus, Avena, Melissa, Tilia, and Scutellaria (mind and heart). D. Winston.
Ganoderma—with Schisandra (shock). Donahue.
Hydrastis—with Populus, 1:4 ratio. For the “dull, lethargic, melancholic and depressed type”—Parton.
Hypericum—with Melissa (seasonal affective disorder). D. Winston. Consider adding Calendula.
Lavandula—with Rosmarinus, Avena, Cola (depression). BHP 1983, 129.
Lavandula—with Rosmarinus, Ocimum, Damiana (stagnation depression; not recovering from a bad experience). D. Winston.
Melissa—Fresh-leaf tincture with honey and milk at night will “wash the whole hard day away”—Sedlacek.
Ocimum—with Tilia. “Formula for volatility in older people who are frustrated by their inability to be in control—like when you take away their car keys”—Sedlacek.
Rosa (thorn)—with Populus tremuloides (so badly hurt they may not recover; suicidal)—old Native American formula. Use the wild rose and aspen Bach flower essences if the herbs are not available.
ST. JOHN’S WORT (HYPERICUM PERFOLIATUM)