No sense of self

Who am I? I have little idea. I know what I am interested in, and I know what my strengths and weaknesses are, and what I like and dislike. I am often told that I am a very articulate and self-aware person.

However, most of my life has been an act. I have internalised multiple personas over the years, pretending to be someone I am not, regardless of whether this someone is real or a figment of my imagination. As an extreme example, once, when I was at school, I imitated the precise way a girl pouted her lip. I ended up pouting my lip, and must have looked quite ridiculous.

I try and imitate hair styles, dress styles, speech patterns, actions, almost anything. Sometimes this is very conscious, sometimes it is almost unconscious, but I am always aware that I am playing a part. Even when I am alone in my bedroom, I act 'through' others. Even my interests are often dictated by someone else, someone I admire or want to be like. It feels like I have no autonomy or 'self' that I can call my own; everything is stage managed.

My interests currently come and go, but I am only interested in one area of a subject, and find it hard to generalise my interest to related fields. I have always had this problem, but I am more aware of it now; it means that I find it hard to plan my life, decide what I want to do, and what I want to achieve in life.

I also get obsessed with certain people, and live my life 'through' them, often in fantasy.

Can anyone else relate to this lack of self, identity confusion?

Parents
  • Dear Hope

    One book you might find interesting is Nobody Nowhere, by Donna Wiiams. Her words seem to come straight out of the outs of some of the individuals described by RD Laing, in The Divided Self. Donna became something of a guru within the sold of autism in the 90's, though sadly she recently died.

Reply
  • Dear Hope

    One book you might find interesting is Nobody Nowhere, by Donna Wiiams. Her words seem to come straight out of the outs of some of the individuals described by RD Laing, in The Divided Self. Donna became something of a guru within the sold of autism in the 90's, though sadly she recently died.

Children
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