The fifth article in the series asks why people are so uncomfortable with changing the brain.
Like many people who have struggled with a mental illness, Emily Hollenbeck had plenty of stories of people not quite getting it. One memorable instance happened as she was about to be anesthetized for an electroconvulsive therapy treatment. The anesthesiologist found out that she had a Ph.D. in psychology. “His eyes settle on me, and he goes, ‘Oh, that’s ironic.’” Her academic background should have somehow prevented her illness, he seemed to imply.
Those consequences are why I’m not identifying Patient 001 by his name. He works in an intensely intellectual and competitive field, and with a new baby at home, he can’t risk losing business over people’s mistaken assumptions. “You’re screaming for help, and they just don’t understand,” Patient 001 tells me. “That’s probably one of the reasons I’m talking to you, even though I’m doing it anonymously. I hope one day one kid reads what you’re writing, and he finds DBS and he’s cured.”
I’ve been wondering the same thing: What sets the brain apart, and why are people so uncomfortable with attempts to change it? after his implant was turned on? That story sounds a bit trivial. His new musical taste didn’t bother him; it’s a minor thing in the grand scheme of things. But that change, that switch, arguably bores straight to the core of our unease. So many of us, myself included, consider our brains — and the minds they create — the bedrock of our identity.
Amanda echoes the sentiment: “Nothing I’ve ever done has changed who I am or my personality,” she says, DBS included. “I’m still the same person. I’m just suffering more or less.”
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