Abstract

It is not uncommon to hear patients who suffer from depression complain that they are not themselves. Given that their lives during a depressive episode may be profoundly changed, it is often easy to agree. But what does it mean to agree here? "Not being themselves� in this context refers to qualitative changes that have occurred in their way of being, including changes in personality and self-understanding. I will use the term "self� to refer to periods of a distinguishable personality pattern in a person"s life, without further discussion of their metaphysical status or the criteria for a distinction between different selves.