Vol.XIII #2 - Two Helleborus Cases

Simillimum - Summer 2000

Krista Heron ND, HANP

I have long been touched by the simple, wan appearance of the Hellebores. My mother had planted a hillside of them underneath the shadow of a dozen Douglas Firs. They would bloom at the beginning of winter, looking pale and ghostly through the season's rain and snow. Little else bloomed at this time of year in our garden, but the flowers of the Hellebores were hardly cheery, unlike the Snowdrops that valiantly rose out of the frosty ground near them, or the eventual Crocus that would beckon spring. Instead, it was their lack of vibrancy that distinguished the Hellebores. Their subdued hues ranged from pale green to a muted purple. These are not bright vivacious colors but instead reflect the sensorial depression and dullness that is characteristic of these remedies.

The Hellebores belong to the Ranunculaceae family, which is divided into the subgroups Anemonean (Adonis, Hepatica, Hydrastis, Pulsatilla), Clematideae (Clematis erecta), Helleboreae (Aconitums, Acteas, Aquilegia, Caltha, Helleborus, Staphysagria), Paeoneae (Paeonia) and the Ranunculeae (R. acris, R. bulbosus, R. ficaria, R. flammula, R. glacialis, R. repens, R. sceleratus).

The patients who need these remedies in the Ranunculaceae family have very sensitive temperaments. They feel a lack of inner strength, a kind of delicacy or an impressionable quality that readily allows them to feel slighted, fearful or timid. It is not only that they are passive and soft, but that they can be excitable, hysterical and touchy as well. This changeable nature, so familiar to us in Pulsatilla, can be seen in the others as well. The malleability or capriciousness is characteristic of this family. Patients needing these remedies are sensitive to others and what others think of them. In their great sensitivity they can suppress their own emotions in order to find the comfort they are seeking.

Helleborus doesn't just seem to suppress their emotions; they become dulled as a means to overcome the tremendous terror they feel. It seems that they can not process the sensory world. They may see and hear, but they are befuddled and benumbed by the meaning of it. They experience an apathy or a state of suspension. It is as if they are cut off from the world and themselves in this essential way, not being able to interpret or comprehend their own experience, thoughts or feelings.