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Key points
- Some people may be hesitant to take medication for a mental health condition because they don't want to turn into a different person.
- Some also express concern over possibly losing their creativity in their attempt at recovery.
- A change to a healthier mindset can help them overcome these fears and get the treatment they need.
Taking medications or recovering from mental illness usually comes with a certain kind of fear: If I get better, I won’t be “myself.”
This fear is a major hindrance to recovery. A typical concern that accompanies this is the fear of losing creativity or artistry. I hear others in recovery report a fear of losing their sense of artistic genius; they believe art can only be created through deep pits of despair.
Often parents ask me how I’ve come to recover so quickly and with such improvement from my mental illness. Starting with this concept might help people achieve that goal.
Epigenetics Applied to the Self
There is a concept in the field of epigenetics, which says that your genetic expression could largely depend on the environmental factors that contribute to your overall health. Your genetic expression could result in disastrous diseases like cancer or diabetes, or it can even result in your skin’s appearance after changing your diet.
I apply this concept to the self and personality. While it’s true that you’re not going to be the same self while you’re in the throes of mental illness, that doesn’t mean that a new self couldn’t be better or produce a higher quality of living.
The concept of epigenetics can apply to the self. We actually have many versions of ourselves and our personalities that can be changed through environmental and mental interventions. For example, even though taking medications can result in a blunting effect of emotions, it can also be true that taking medications results in a different version of yourself. It might allow you to be better at doing laundry, cooking for yourself, and taking the dogs out on a walk. This is your productive self.
Perhaps taking medications and doing therapy might not result in the same type of creative despair you once had. But if you’re a creative person, that trait probably won’t go away just because you take some drugs. Your creativity might express itself in different ways. Instead of sad poetry, you might be creating scrapbooks, organizing parties, or writing more comprehensive essays once you regain your ability to think rationally and creatively.
Taking medications might result in a change in body size. But this is also another version of yourself that can be appreciated and viewed in other ways. We have many versions of our bodies and minds.
Viewed in this context, taking medications and going to therapy actually produce a more sustainable and productive sense of self. Expanding your definition of what constitutes the “self” can expand your repertoire of skills, abilities, and potential as a human being.
Learning to love and appreciate all of your unique selves is a winning strategy for recovery. In different situations at different times, we may act, appear, or express ourselves differently, but that different self is a version of our many “selves.” We can learn to be and optimize all of them.
In sum, the way to recover without losing yourself is simply by expanding your definition of your selfhood.
