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Materia Medica Viva Volume 12 – page 2682

precipitates the typical Ignatia pathology (to be described later).
By the time she reaches the menopausal age she has adopted a very cold view of reality. She reasons that her own life has been that of a sucker, one who has been exploited. She feels that she has constantly given to others without receiving anything in return. At this point, if she has been given to sighing, she stops doing so. Even though she may grieve deeply over something, there is no observ- able reactive sighing. She questions, who really loves me? Every- thing, every real or imagined slight is taken to heart and becomes a source of great pain. She remains realistic and responsible through- out this stage. She will deny herself to satisfy others, hoping that her sacrifices will be gratefully acknowledged and will win the affec- tion of others. Thus, without emotion, she fulfils the material needs of others enviably.
Her family’s perceived lack of appreciation makes her very miser- able regardless of their actual behaviour, no matter how attentive or kind. Eventually she doesn’t want to bother with anything and be- comes very indifferent. She may become very depressed in a way that resembles Aurum metalicum, but there is no desire for suicide as in Aurum.
The basic concept to remember about Ignatia is the conflict, romanticism versus reality. She is highly vulnerable emotion- ally and most of her behaviour is designed to protect herself from being hurt. If she does experience a very severe or prolonged grief or frustration, the pathology eventually passes from the emotional level to either the physical or the mental. Both do not exist simultaneously in the same patient. Instead, physical and mental pathology may alternate, or, more commonly, a particular individual will show a predilection to progress to either the physical or the mental level. The direction of this progression will depend largely upon the strength of the vital force. If the symptomatology moves onto the physical level one sees spasms and neuralgias which cannot be accounted for by any known pathological mechanisms (psychosomatic, hysterical