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I think one could make the argument that medication helps someone be the person who they are supposed to be, as long as the underlying condition is medical.
However, I can say this within the context of who they are supposed to be is the best they can be, depending on the other issues they have developed in life. PDs are a great example - people do not know how to behave properly within society, not because it is who they are, but because of how they and their brains were trained when young.
Hi Scooter. Thanks.
Re your first statement, I've thought that, too. But then I think that by design, the medical condition is part of my identity...and that medication, while I'm glad I am on it, is effectively a mask with the true "me" underneath. Kind of like fake boobs.
I suppose "medicated me" is also part of my identity as a person with mental illness, but the medication is nonetheless an artificial augmentation.
Re your second point, the PD is throughly woven into one's cognition, emotions, and behavior. If we agree that who we are is the sum of our experiences plus heredity, a disordered personality is still who we are even though its origin is mostly external. (I say "mostly" to account for predisposition)
I know this is a question with no answer, but many of the most fun ones to ponder are.
Well, who you are is an arrangement of neurons in a neurotransmitter soup. It's changing constantly. I'm not sure I buy into the notion of a "true self." You are however you are at any given moment.
That said, you'll often hear people commenting that "they weren't themselves" under the influence of alcohol...honey, you were, you were just you with poor impulse control and motor coordination. Anything you did, was already in you somewhere, the alcohol just potentiated it. I tend to think it's basically the same with other drugs that have an effect on the mind. You're just you in a different chemical marinade. It might bring out certain aspects of your personality and suppress others, but you're still just you.
If a person has a mental illness, as I do, is their "real self" their natural, unmedicated state or their self as corrected by medication?
How is your first thought affected by when onset occurs? If medication/therapy does not fully resolve the symptoms?
A variation on this theme came up in a thread about suicide. Don't really want to go there, but it prompted this conundrum.
Why is it important to know who the "real self" is?
If someone is medicated (or drugged) whatever they are doing at that moment is reality not the "IF" scenarios. Good or bad. If I am display good behavior upto now but then get drunk and decide to shoot someone who is the real me? Does it matter once the other person dies? The person is not gonna get revived just because someone defined me in the past as "a good person"
If a person has a mental illness, as I do, is their "real self" their natural, unmedicated state or their self as corrected by medication?
A Buddhist would say, somewhat enigmatically, that there IS no "real self".
Your question is unavoidably entangled with questions of what constitutes "normalcy". When people depart too much and too consistently from societal norms, society becomes uncomfortable and finds a way to sanction or remove that person. People who consistently run afoul of social expectations are medicated or retrained to be more "acceptable" or "normal".
Ironically, if you buy the ideas of Julian Janes, what we would describe as "schizophrenia" today was perfectly normal 3,000 years ago. Religious ecstasy and hypnotic states are also throwbacks to an earlier configuration of consciousness that we now find disturbing. And there are seriously autistic or eccentric persons who manage to find a way to function in the world and seem quite content if not happy with their "dysfunctions" or "afflictions".
So this whole business of the "real" or "ideal" or "best" self is a little slippery. I think it comes down to some combination of retraining, medicating, and finding ways to fit in that works for a particular person.
If a person has a mental illness, as I do, is their "real self" their natural, unmedicated state or their self as corrected by medication?
How is your first thought affected by when onset occurs? If medication/therapy does not fully resolve the symptoms?
A variation on this theme came up in a thread about suicide. Don't really want to go there, but it prompted this conundrum.
The answer to your question is simple. There is the real you NOT on meds and the real you ON meds. If there is a REAL you, ON meds, than....the unmedicated version is YOU? It's the one who is taking the meds.
You are you, in your natural state. The meds don't change who you are, they simply change the way you feel and behave.
recently a friend shared a story about her neighbor who suffers from schizophrenia. she has been homeless many times in her youth, been in hospitals, but has learned to manage her illness. she is writing a book, works with the mentally ill doing art therapy, has her own non profit and is also a prolific artist. she also knows when her onset is coming on- she will literally say, "i feel like i need to back away now", and she goes away to manage it. she takes medication and works with her illness.
i think that in terms of mental illness, in my uneducated armchair opinion only ORGANIC brain disorders present this conundrum. if it is nurture, not nature, that made you the way you are, then the person you are meant to be is probably buried under depression or mood disorders that are largely treatable to one degree or another. i don't believe that taking medication in that scenario is likely to erase any problems you had, because they came from poor mental outlook or insight, a lack of positivity, a lack of knowledge about how to turn your moods around or your neuroses. whether they be lack of confidence, fear of sex due to abuse or incest, phobias, etc., it all boils down to not living at your optimum level. you are too busy self flagellating or running a bad loop in your mind. but it isn't determined by nature or your chemistry. so the person you become after shedding those negative beliefs will be much more true. with something like schizophrenia or TRUE manic depression, i think you are looking at a chemical imbalance or other organic brain dysfunction, to the extent that you might as well ask if a person with epilepsy can stop shaking. they cannot. there is a misfire happening. so therefore, if you are suffering from something truly organic there is no way that self-talk is gonna help. so yes, i think, in that scenario, you are more "actualized" once you get a handle on that.
You're just as much you on meds as you are without them -- the hope is that the meds take the edge off the symptoms enough so you can function better. The pills can free you up enough to work on your symptoms so that you no longer need the meds, ideally.
Re your first statement, I've thought that, too. But then I think that by design, the medical condition is part of my identity...and that medication, while I'm glad I am on it, is effectively a mask with the true "me" underneath. Kind of like fake boobs.
I suppose "medicated me" is also part of my identity as a person with mental illness, but the medication is nonetheless an artificial augmentation.
Re your second point, the PD is throughly woven into one's cognition, emotions, and behavior. If we agree that who we are is the sum of our experiences plus heredity, a disordered personality is still who we are even though its origin is mostly external. (I say "mostly" to account for predisposition)
I know this is a question with no answer, but many of the most fun ones to ponder are.
Perhaps I am comparing an apple and an orange. I don't want to offend you, but is a diabetic their "real self" on insulin or metforum? I think insulin and oral can affect their being as diabetes CAN have an effect on personality etc.
OR for the person who is depressed or in recovery from addiction, say they run, and experience a runner's high, is THAT the person's real self AFTER the runner's high?
I hope I did not offend you. Please, pardon my misspellings and dangling modifiers-I need more coffee for better focus.
there are lots of people on meds that should not be its called situation depression, you don't go on meds if you loose your job, or your girlfriend runs off all you will get is side effects. Your brain is not damaged by mental illness get out a get hammered and forget about it. because once your on the med go round you wont get off. REAL MENTALLY ILL would walk over broken glass bear foot for medicated help , and put up with side effects unless they are life threatening . REMEMBER with all meds for mental illness you get worse before better FACT. dyslexic
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