Are Our Brains Our Own?

Confusion: Is it the drugs or "just bipolar"?

I can't always follow a train of thought. The way my brain physically processes thoughts is rerouted. Always has been. BUT! More recently I can feel my brain working hard to retrieve even the simplest of thoughts or memories. Is it the new drug Ive been on for about 4 weeks? A friend of mine (and a former doctor of behavioral pharmacology) has said "YoU ARE your brain!"

When I take new psych meds I sometimes can feel how they are affecting my synapses- how I feel, how my thought patterns have changed,etc.

Are our brain our own? Being bipolar I don't really think so. We just borrow them from moment to moment.

I think they are ours but the throttle sticks a little, sometimes open, sometimes closed.

ok. not to sound too "antipsychiatry," but...there's not yet any sort of brain scans, bloodwork, etc. to base a DSM/ICD diagnosis on. My shrink says "You're clearly BIPOLAR I! Take your LAMICTAL!," while my counselor says "are you sure you wanna reduce your Abilify? I sense a lil Schizoaffective..."

point is...now, as in the early days of psychopharmacology, really...ideally...good doctors are matching distressing problems/"symptoms" to available drugs. clusters of symptoms="diagnosis," but thats mostly for billing and (hopefully...) to help guide treatment in a good direction.

maybe its because my labels have been all over the map, but...whoa. I'm skeptical, and I try to minimize my drug intake, to whatever extent possible. 2 psych drugs, 1 prn (rarely used), tons of antioxidants to reduce toxicity and (hopefully....maybe....) improve results, overall.

maybe you should go over your psych drug combination w/ someone and see what can be dropped, reduced, etc., to get a lil more "rational poly-pharmacy" going? -most- combinations are -not- studied. I think there's limited data on some 'atypicals'+anticonvulsant mood drugs, 'atypicals' + lithium, zyprexa+prozac. in psychotic depression, there's limited research on some tranquilizer+antidepressant combinations. That't not exactly a wealth of data to draw upon, lol.

My brain is mine regardless of bipolar or not or meds

Yes my brain is my own.

My brain is mine. It is bipolar. It is meds. This crazy train is made of many parts, but in the end it's just who I am.

I do not think I own my brain due to episodes of MI. That is not me in terms of character, thoughtfulness, and dependability. Before my BP became much worse, I was who I chose to be, at least for the most part. I liked who I was becoming, even though there was allot of work ahead of me. I was capable of change. This is no longer the case. In some ways, I became the opposite of who I was. Now this does not mean I use BP as an excuse. I deeply regret the hurt I have given others, and find it difficult to forgive myself, even though the hurt I gave was decades in the past. I own up to what I have done in the past. I just need the correct medication and help to once again become more like who I was and what I believe in myself to be.

My brain is mine, even with the ravages of MI and med side effects. I can still create, love, and be happy. I can also be angry and depressed, but meds can't cure everything. Sometimes it's just life.

Of course my brain is mine. And of course I am me. I am not bipolar. I am not the meds. Now, I have asked if certain issues I'm experiencing are because of my illness or because of medications (probably the side effects). It's not always so easy to tell, but certainly time can shed some light on this. Stability can. Reducing or increasing doses can.

I have has some medications that gave me side effects initially, but then as I got used to the medication the side effects eased (at the same dose or even increasing dose). In those cases it was originally the medication. But I am a believer that with time and proper medication and stability that the brain heals, just as a broken arm heals. But no matter what, the broken arm is still your arm at all times.

my brain is mine ... but there are times we are not on speaking terms ...

....and here I thought this would be a thread about proof aliens abducted me and messed with my brain causing the BP! The question is am I my brain or is my brain me? I think Wiretwister got it right.

This is so me.
When I’m at my most unwell my brain just has to shout louder if it wants to be heard.
It makes for a very noisy head.

Does not owning something, like your brain, imply being able to control it? I think this relates to the heart of my previous opinion.

My brain is in my head. However, sometimes is brilliant and sometimes is boring.

Brain or mind? Brain is just a physical computing, recording and storage device. It can malfunction and cause the mind to suffer. So yes, the brain is mine but I'm not my brain. It's my mind that defines me.