Elm is the remedy for people suffering a temporary loss of self-confidence due to the overwhelming amount of responsibility they have taken on. Genuine Elm types are people who are successful and carrying out work that they believe in, but at times feel the weight of the charge on them and become depressed and concerned that they will not be able to go on.

The remedy helps to dispel these feelings so that the Elm person can resume his or her life without thought of failure.

The Elm state can be usefully contrasted with the Larch state: whereas people in the former take up challenges willingly and then only later, and only occasionally, doubt their abilities, Larch people are convinced they are going to fail right from the start, and so they tend not to try things in the first place.