Ammonium Carbonicum [Am-c]:

- Jan Scholten

'My father is a shit.'

Vithoulkas (Polderman, 1989, page 136) calls Ammonium carbonicum a 'sour prune', indifferent, unyielding, obstinate, irritable, coarse, insulting, rude, surly, whimsical, refuses to answer questions, timid, avoids crowds. Quite a list, but without much structure. It is not surprising that Vithoulkas commented: 'Personally, I wouldn't prescribe this remedy on a purely mental picture, because we don't know yet what is behind it all in Am-

c'.

Concepts Ammonium Carbonicum

Resentment, grudge Giving meaning

Anger, hate criticism Stating values

Closed, held in Self worth

Idealism Dignity

Disappointment, gloom Shyness

Worker

Father Group analysis

If we look at the theme as it emerges from the group analysis, what we get is a disappointed resentment towards the father. An Ammonium carbonicum situation often has its origin during adolescence. Before this time the father is still seen as a big, strong, all powerful and all-knowing being. The image they have of him is idealised and they don't see his weak points. Then during puberty they start to develop a more critical view. The father who was once so almighty, a mixture of God and Father Christmas, is often knocked off his pedestal, as it becomes clear that he is not as perfect as was once believed. A variation on this theme might be an increasing grudge against society and the meaning of life. Here the disappointment in the father takes the form of a disappointment with life in general. We then start to see the type of coarse, bungling and awkward youth, who kicks against society and all its values, who says: 'Society is rotten, chasing after money and jobs, is this the real meaning of life?' They have to search for their own values. They are the type of 'angry young men', the punks or provos. We can see that Am-c is similar to Caust. in many ways: neither of them can tolerate the injustices and abuse of values in society. But in Caust the feeling of injustice is predominant, whilst Am-c has more resentment. As they get older the provocative behaviour changes into a more cynical and reserved kind of attitude. They are very disappointed in their old ideals, they think that society is rotten and corrupt. Yet another variation might be that they idealise either their father or society, although I have not seen this yet in one of my cases. It is quite likely that this sort of situation does not cause any complaints, at least not in the beginning. Later on they might get problems, when it becomes clear that everything is not as ideal as they thought. This may lead to disappointment and bitterness. A typical rubric in the repertory is 'excitement in the evening, thinking of the things that others have done to displease him'. In this symptom we can clearly recognise the resentment, but the relation to the father figure and to the value of life is hard to see. The reservedness is typified by: 'aversion to answer', 'aversion to go out', 'dwell on past disagreeable occurrences'.

The aggressive character is seen in rubrics such as 'abusive', 'censorious', 'cursing', 'hatred', 'malicious', and 'anger from contradiction'.

Case

A boy, aged 14, comes with his mother because he has problems concentrating at school. He gets distracted very easily, but he isn't very interested either. As long as his work is up to the pass mark he is content.

His stomach is over-sensitive, especially to stale food, which makes him sick.

Chinese food gives him diarrhoea.

Past history: He has had pseudo-croup for years.

Periodic spells of vomiting in the autumn. These attacks are usually very violent: he often screams while he vomits the whole contents of his stomach all at once. These attacks happen around 3 h.

General characteristics:

Temperature: normal.

Desires: sweet (3), eggs (3), milk, spinach.

Aversion: chicory (3), cumin.

Sleep: on his right side. Once a month he wakes at 3 h.

Mind: He has come for a consultation, but I feel that is only because he had to. He looks rather surly and he only grudgingly gives a minimum amount of information. He does not get on very well with his parents, especially his step-father. He says that he can't have a decent conversation with his step-father, because he is afraid of being smacked or punished, for instance by not being allowed to watch television. He thinks his parents are 'dim-wits', he feels like smashing the place to pieces sometimes.

His parents got divorced two years ago and he has found this very hard to deal with. His hobbies are watching t.v., computers, skateboarding, having fun with friends. He bites his nails, worse when he is studying and while watching television.

Analysis

The way he reacts to his step-father is typical of Am-c. A description of this rather typical behaviour cannot be found in the literature, but it is evident from the group analysis, and has proved to be correct in my experience. Besides this there are some other confirming symptoms for Am-c, such as aversion to answer questions, (<) 3 h., stomach complaints, desire for sweets. Reaction Am-c 1 M brought about an aggravation for two weeks. During this time the atmosphere at home was terrible, he was continually picking fights with his stepfather. He also had a very bad day at school with his teachers. After that everything went better. He started to enjoy his studies and his concentration improved. The situation at home became easier and, after a temporary aggravation, he stopped biting his nails. One month later the stomach complaints were gone. Picture of Ammonium Carbonicum Essence: resentment towards the father, society and the meaning of life. Mind: They have a grudge against their father, especially during puberty, when they start to become rebellious. As a child they idolise their father, seeing him as a sort of god, who can do anything and who knows everything. During puberty it dawns on them that their father is just an ordinary human being with all his faults and shortcomings. This causes them to be extremely disappointed with their father, who proved to be not so ideal after all, who 'frittered away' his ideals. They think that society is rotten and corrupt. They feel that all ideals have been sacrificed to pragmatism and greed. They become the angry and rebellious young men, the punk or provo. They cannot stand the injustices in society. One situation which might originate the Am-c state could be when they are made redundant in their job, especially if this happens because of reorganisations within the workforce, where pragmatic or financial aspects are considered to be more important than human concern. They have a lot of anger inside them, anger and bitterness because of the many disappointments. They may express it by being irritable and rude, by cursing, swearing or criticising. But often the anger is held inside and is only expressed by surliness, obstinate silence, contrary behaviour or biting sarcasm. Besides all this they can also be rather sad, gloomy and phlegmatic. Am-c can be very untidy, even dirty, looking very like Sulphur. Both have an aversion to bathing. Am-c also has a marked aggravation from washing. The difference between the two is that the dirty appearance of Sulphur is a result of their laziness, whilst in Am-c it is more a form of protest, a sign that they don't want to belong to this 'bloody awful world'. Dreams: They dream about a big building in which they get lost and where they don't know the way out. A typical symptom is that they reveal secrets in their sleep.: Location: right sided Physique: coarse, bony, lanky; stout. Temperature: cold, (<) cold, (<) outside. Time: (<) 3 am. Desires: coffee(2), chocolate (2), sweet, sour, tobacco. Aversion: meat. (>) eating. (<) potatoes, alcohol. Physical: (<) bathing, washing. (>) lying down, (<) stretching.

Complaints:

Pains are biting and burning.

Discharges are very acrid, watery and yellow.

Sinusitis. Colds.

Lung problems, emphysema.

Heart problems.

Stomach complaints.

Sciatica. Inflammation of the joints with contractures.

The skin and mucous membranes can be violently red, swollen, itching and burning.

DD: Ammoniums, Carbonicums, Caust, Nit-ac, Nitricums, Sulph.

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