Hi, Gareth. I don't know who the "real" you might be but I suspect it is both people. Yes, illness, especially psychosis, causes us to be out of "our" head but that's not personality. A fever can do the same thing.

Illness can change how we respond but it does not change who we are I don't think. However, one could not become well again, become sicker, in which case for that period one might be said to have a personality change but it does not negate who you were when you were compassionate and generous! All the things you were you still were. I think of it kind of like if you were to lose an arm or a leg you once had or your sight or hearing? You could talk about walking or sights/sounds, you "know" them and they were part of you but the characteristics you like about who you were, you don't have available at the moment.