No I do not think so. What you describe are called mental states, which are transitory; the self is a relatively persistent concept, spanning one's personality,

No I do not think so. What you describe are called mental states, which are transitory; the self is a relatively persistent concept, spanning one's personality, identity, and life experiences. The author is arguing that rather than just suppressing symptoms with medication, an important part of recovery should be to develop a new self-image that includes the disorder. The medication doesn't help in this regard, but apart from that there are the things one did during episodes which can be very hard to rhyme with one's previous self-image. tokenaudult's point of other cultures not having such a focus on the notion of the self is very interesting; it seems to completely undermine the idea that the self is key to recovery. It is very typical that stories about mental health end with some suggestion that is going to solve it all, but to me it's clear we are simply stumbling through the dark.