What are the importance of mental symptoms during selection of remedy?

In homeopathy, mental symptoms carry special weight because they most directly reflect the patient’s individual “vital force” and guide the choice—and assessment—of the simillimum remedy:

1. Primary expression of the vital force
Mental and emotional disturbances—fears, anxieties, obsessions, mood swings—are seen as the first manifestations of deranged vital energy. Because mind and body form an inseparable whole, these inner perturbations reveal the core of the patient’s imbalance more clearly than generic physical signs.

2. Supreme individualization
Two patients with identical physical complaints may differ profoundly in their mental picture. Homeopathy prioritizes those peculiar, characteristic mental traits—exact phobias, thought patterns, emotional responses—when repertorizing, since they narrow the remedy choice to the single most similar medicine.

3. Constitutional blueprint
A remedy that matches the totality of mental symptoms often covers the entire case—mental, general and local. Mental characteristics guide not just acute prescribing but also the deeper, long-term constitutional selection in chronic disease.

4. Sensitive barometer of cure
During treatment, shifts in mental state (e.g., reduction in fear, improved mood stability) usually precede and herald physical improvement. Monitoring these changes helps the prescriber confirm correct remedy action or recognize a need for potency adjustment.