THE SYCOTIC MIASM

1. THE SYCOTIC MIASM George Loukas

2. The word sycosis derives from the word “syco” (Greek word for fig). Hanhemann used this word because the sycotic person tends to make warts that may reach to the point of looking like a fig. In other words sycosis means verrucose .

3. Let’s begin with the sycotic person’s mental sphere. The sycotic person has an inclination to show off. A sycotic woman walks in the street and cuts a dash. Heads turn around when she walks by and that is what she seeks, consciously or even unconsciously. A sycotic man walks with a swagger and puffs himself up to show his muscles. Expensive clothes bought at “trendy” shops also have to so with sycosis. Buying an expensive car (though it is not necessary for professional use) is also related to sycosis.

4. Medicine and “trendy” professions, such as journalist, lawyer, politician, have much appeal for sycotic persons. The shinny shingle on the door, the glamorous surface, the worldwide recognition appeal to the young student. A sycotic scientist thinks of himself to be an exceptional case in his field, even though he is mediocre. He calls himself an expert or an adept in his field. He likes to put many titles on his shingle. As a patient he prefers distinguished and highly qualified doctors, who sound like omniscient to him. He has a mistrust of doctors who are ordinary and straight.

5. This inclination to show off marks every sycotic behavior and most times it is unconscious. When he is sad, for instance, the way he cries, the way he sighs draws everybody’s attention and sympathy towards him. The way a sycotic person gets angry is also flamboyant. The person screams, shouts, makes a great fuss. It is some kind of “puffing up” that draw’s other people’s attention. When the sycotic person is happy, he roars with laughter and also makes a great fuss.

6. Another major feature of the sycotic person’s mental sphere is a tendency to keep things to oneself. In general the notion of keeping overweighs that of giving. Therefore the sycotic person is not keen on giving. The sycotic teacher is rather unwilling to give his knowledge, he is not the kind of person to communicate knowledge. He will try and keep it to himself. He may even try and mislead other people so long and he does not give it. Most times there is an ambivalence about giving-keeping.

7. As for emotions he keeps them to himself too. Although he himself wants to be the focus f general attention, he does not open his heart to his partner when he is in trouble. It is the case of a mother who gives her child the cold shoulder. There is no emotion in her caress, which is rather stiff.

8. The sycotic lover is reluctant to convey emotion. Passion is not among his features. Sycosis is secret. The sycotic person tends to keep everything secret, out of sight. This may happen either consciously or unconsciously. For instance, he may keep his aims secret, he acts deviously, he does not reveal much about himself, he hides his real intentions. He also hides his real feelings. When he is sad, he does not look so sad as the circumstances require. That’s why he seems to be strong in other people’s eyes. He may dislike someone and still smile at him and be very friendly with him.

9. When the sycotic person gives, he certainly means to take later on. Avarice is an expression of the need to keep things to oneself. An avaricious person is “stingy”, he does not give. Collecting objects is a sycotic manifestation too.

10. In general, when a sycotic person responds to a stimulation, his reaction is in the right direction but has a reduced intensity. This is due to the fact that he ‘keeps things to himself”, he absorbs only a part of intensity of the given stimulation. This shows that the person is strong in appearance only. For instance, when he is subjected to a sad stimulation, he does not seem to be sad.

11. In fact, however, this sort of strength is weakness and this is due to the fact that this kind of person has a limited width of response. He shows inflexibility in the way of functioning, that is to say. This stiffness coexists with a tendency to have control. The sycotic person wants to have control over other people and over himself as well. He keeps every expression, every emotion of his under control. He cannot stand the spontaneity of emotions and acts.

12. Pedantry is another feature of sycotic miasm. The housewife who gets annoyed at finding a speck of dust on the furniture, who sweeps and mops the floor three times a day, who forbids her husband to enter the house with his shoes on, is an example of sycotic pedantry.

13. In general the sycotic person is prim and proper, orderly, he concerns himself too much with schedule, so much that he lays more weight on the schedule that on essential things. He wants all the objects on his desk to be in alignment, he wants his car to be perfectly clean, he sees that its color does not fade, he protects it against the rain and the wind, he worries about small details.

14. Religiosity is another example of sycotic pedantry. A religionist focuses his attention not on philosophy and on the deeper meaning of religion but on the ritual. It is very important to him that the sign of the cross is made three times, not two, that the fast is observed for exactly forty days, he is very strict on the observance of the schedule. Religiosity, along with the other features of sycotic miasm, were typical of the Scribes and Pharisees, who always abided by the letter of the law but could not understand what purpose the existence of the law served in the first place.

15. The sycotic scientist tends to classify the phenomena. Classifications are sycotic expressions. Excessive adherence to classifying systems, such as DSM or ICDX is sycosis. The notion of specialty and overspecialization is a sycotic feature too. The sycotic person focuses his attention on details but misses the general picture. Therefore we can see the evolution of medicine and of science in general and how important it is to have a complete and in depth cure of scientists so that science may evolve.

16. In general the sycotic person is dogmatic and absolute. To him it is all black or white. He is inflexible. He is not receptive to new ideas. He rejects a new idea without even elaborating it. Reclassifications in the system of knowledge and values fill him with anxiety. He wants knowledge and ideas to be well classified inside his head. He wants everything to be settled and fixed. That causes him a need for control.

17. He wants to keep control of everything. The complexity and multiformity of nature, scare him as well as the perpetual motion of universe. Consequently of all this multiformity he picks out what he can classify, what he can put in order. That is usually only the surface of phenomena. Once he has classified it, he will try to keep it steady and fixed. He allows only small changes, which he can control.

18. In general, in sycosis there is tendency to exaggeration psoric features. For instance, the psoric person has a vague and unconscious feeling of inferiority. When, however the person thinks that he is not capable of anything, that he is not good-looking, that he is not intelligent, that he is lacking in everything, then we notice an excessive expression of the feeling of inferiority and it is the case of sycotic miasm. Moreover the initial anxiety becomes in excessive expression, fear of death and of diseases.

19. Respect for the rules that characterizes the psoric person, becomes in sycosis excessive pedantry regarding the observance of the law. Repression, which is, as already said, a primary feature of psoric miasm and which has to do also with its creation, becomes in sycosis even more excessive and more intense, so intense that it obstructs processes, such as free association. The process of psychoanalysisis also obstructed and thus occurs resistance.

20. In physical sphere hyperplasies and hypertrophies prevail. As previously said, sycosis owes its name to this feature. Sycosis is also characterized by an increase in secretions. For instance, gonorrhea is a sycotic manifestation. Sycotic eczema shows profuse effusion of fluids. At other times we notice a retention of fluids in the organism. Inflammation is a major feature of sycosis as well as formation of cysts. The feeling of fragility is also remarkable, the person does not stand being touched or even approached.