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Living the neurochemical self?: Experiences after the success of the SSRIs
Department of Gender Studies, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5591-3275
2016 (English)In: Distinktion: Scandinavian Journal of Social Theory, ISSN 1600-910X, E-ISSN 2159-9149, Vol. 17, no 2, p. 130-148Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This is an exploration, in dialogue with Nikolas Rose’s conceptualization of the neurochemical self, of how people taking antidepressants through in-depth interviews make sense of their experiences of using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. The neurochemical self, according to Rose, is a self understood as regulated by neurochemical processes, where how we feel is mapped onto the body, more precisely the brain. The findings suggest that one of Rose’s points – that the deep inner self informed by psychoanalysis is gone – has some bearing. However, the plasticity of the biological that Rose argues accompanies a neurochemical understanding that cannot be traced; rather, the understanding of depression is gravitating towards it being a biological, constitutional malfunctioning. Adding to this, even though the users experienced that the pills worked, their understandings bore no relation to the wider neurochemical framework and were riddled with uncertainty. As a conclusion it is suggested that depression is delinked from explanation, and exists in a void abandoned to containment by medicine, although not that effectively treated. In this, the only way to become a functioning subject once again seems to be to go on pills.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Taylor & Francis, 2016. Vol. 17, no 2, p. 130-148
Keywords [en]
Antidepressant use, experiences, SSRI, depression, Nikolas Rose, Neurochemical self
National Category
Social Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-1604DOI: 10.1080/1600910X.2016.1223727Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84984621730Local ID: 26991OAI: oai:DiVA.org:mau-1604DiVA, id: diva2:1398335
Available from: 2020-02-27 Created: 2020-02-27 Last updated: 2024-12-13Bibliographically approved

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Publisher's full textScopushttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1600910X.2016.1223727?journalCode=rdis20

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Sandell, Kerstin

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