Anacardium orientale

Anacardium orientale is derived from the juice of the Semecarpus anacardium nut, a tree native to India. The juice is highly irritant and vesicant to the skin and mucous membranes. In its raw state, it can cause severe dermatitis. The nut was historically used in Ayurvedic medicine as a stimulant and for various skin and nervous disorders. The homeopathic remedy is prepared by potentising the crude extract.

In Ayurvedic medicine, used cautiously as a digestive and nervine tonic. Traditional Indian ink was also made using this nut (hence “marking nut”). Crude extract is highly toxic.

First proved by Hahnemann and published in Materia Medica Pura. Later expanded by Hering, Allen, and Clarke. Known for its peculiar mental picture of duality, cruelty, and inner conflict.

• Mind and nervous system – profound action on moral faculties, memory, will, and duality
• Gastrointestinal tract – stomach, bowels, and rectum especially affected
• Skin – eruptions, itching, contact vesication
• Spinal cord and motor system – paralysis, numbness, weakness
• Senses – perversion or dullness of taste, smell, hearing
• Throat – globus hystericus, choking sensation
• Left side – symptoms often predominate on the left

• Eating (marked improvement of mental and physical symptoms)
• Moderate warmth
• Rest
• Pressure or tight clothing (strangely soothing in some complaints)
• Lying down (for many physical symptoms)
• Engaging the will or asserting control (temporary improvement)

• Mental exertion
• Emotional strain or contradiction
• Fasting, empty stomach (mental and physical symptoms return)
• After anger or humiliation
• Suppressed eruptions
• Overheating or heat of bed (itching worse)
• After coffee or stimulants
• Tight collars (choking sensation worse)

• Hyoscyamus – More manic or overt psychosis, less self-awareness
• Stramonium – Terror and violence, but more driven by fear than inner conflict
• Plumbum – Also has plug-like sensations, but more destructive and neurological
• Nux vomica – Similar irritability and gastric symptoms, but more action-oriented
• Lachesis – Jealousy and loquacity; Anacardium more internalised and controlled

• Complementary: Lycopodium, Nux vomica, Sulphur
• Antidotes: Camphora, Coffea
• Follows well: Ignatia, Pulsatilla
• Precedes well: Silicea
• Inimical: Causticum (may suppress inner conflict)

Anacardium orientale embodies the conflict between light and shadow within the human psyche. The sensation of a “demon on one shoulder, angel on the other” dominates both the mind and moral sense. This inner war manifests as violent impulses restrained by fear or guilt. The patient is alienated from their own identity, unsure of their thoughts, intentions, or morals. Physically, this theme appears as “plugged” sensations—in the throat, rectum, chest, or spine. Everything is halted—digestion, expression, elimination. Yet when nourished, even briefly, the symptoms lift. Anacardium is thus the remedy of the divided will, the blocked instinct, and the imprisoned self.

• Useful in early schizophrenia, especially with cruelty, amnesia, or religious conflict
• Top remedy for student stress with brain fog and craving for food
• Constipation with no urging and “plug” sensation highly characteristic
• Suited for eczema with intense itching < warmth

Mind

• Duality of will
• Cruelty, hidden impulses
• Loss of memory for names, words
• Suicidal thoughts, restrained
• Better while eating

Rectum

• Constipation, ineffectual urging
• Sensation of plug
• Stool dry, hard, must be removed manually

Throat

• Sensation of lump
• Choking on empty swallowing
• Better from food

Skin

• Itching < warmth of bed
• Eczema, vesicular
• Excoriation in folds

Generalities

• Better for eating
• Worse for fasting
• Weakness after mental exertion
• Plug sensations throughout body

• Samuel Hahnemann – Materia Medica Pura: Provided the original proving, emphasising plug sensations, mind symptoms, and digestion
• C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms: Developed the duality and cruelty aspects; added details on paralysis
• James Kent – Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Focused on mental split, suppression, and memory loss
• William Boericke – Pocket Manual: Practical usage for constipation, mental disorders, and skin eruptions
• John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Added expansive notes on amnesia, moral themes, and delusions