converse with others and prefer to be alone with their dullness. Kent reports of one patient: ‘She sits for a long time in one place, looks into space and does not answer when spoken to. ’ They do not want to be bothered, do not want to answer questions, shun consolation and all these things irritate them. In their state of worry and exhaustion, they just want to lie down. They are oversensitive to reproach, even to a mild rebuke from a friend. Remedies that may be confused with this one are Sepia and Natrum muriaticum.
Calcarea silicata’s intellect is totally disorganised and may even reach a state of Alzheimer’s disease. In the initial stages their memory is very weak, and their mind deficient of ideas in the daytime. They are absent-minded, have difficulty concentrating, especially conducting a conversation, and tend to make mistakes in speech and to misuse words.
Then, when the prostration of mind reaches a more advanced stage, it is characterised by a total inability to concentrate on what is being listened to or read. The mind is confused, especially upon waking in the morning, and when the individual attempts to think. Such a patient may be so forgetful that he cannot recall the sentence just spoken.
Eventually the mind breaks down and a state of delirium and psychosis sets in. The patient begins to talk with imaginary people who have long been dead. He sees them, hears their voices, and answers them. An example of this is a woman who thought that her husband long dead was in the next room, and she grieved because she was not allowed to go to him; she wanted to get evening meal for him and imagined that he would starve if she couldn’t reach him. She called her living son by the name of one long dead. Calcarea silicata may also have other delusions and horrible visions; for example, she sees dead people and corpses, dogs at night, disagreeable persons when she is half-awake. She mutters foolish things, experiences restless delirium and wanders all night in her room without sleep.