Nocturnal Mistress...a truly beautiful answer to the questions..:)...and I am in agreement with you on much of it, however...based on my own personal experiences with personality changes within myself as well as observing first-hand a complete personality change in a loved one who suffered a severe head injury (which is rare on its own to occur medically), it raises questions for me on whether or not any of us can truly "know" who we are on a level ascribed by the questions posed in this thread.
What sets you apart from everyone else?
At our basic, neurological levels...we are all susceptible to influences upon our psyche and therefore can be trained and led astray by the least of any visual and audible influences. Whether you realize it or not...your brain is programmable to suit whatever fashionable trend it out there simply because the majority of people are an open book and leave themselves unguarded by such invasive programming....thus, you will always have the presence of "sheeple."
what makes you different from superficial people, and what makes a person genuine?
Again, even superficial people can be genuine about something...and genuine people also in turn have something they're superficial about. This is also dependent upon the fluctuating, inner-workings of the consciousness and personality.
How many people do you think are caught in the confusion?
99.9% There's just as much dis-information out there as foundational knowledge presented to us. Some of us have pretty good filters, while others do not...and much of what we filter through is also dependent upon our personal experiences and perceptions...that which we conceive as being a part of living reality and those things which we assimilate as not being plausible in our minds.
As for my own questions concerning personality changes...this is what I've observed in my own experience:
As an epileptic with complex-partial seizures and secondary generalization, I live with personality and mood shifts on a daily basis. Anti-seizure drugs taken to bring seizures under control can affect the brain much the same as the seizure can, affecting mood, thinking, and personality, however subtle or extreme they may be...dependent upon each individual's reaction to any given treatment due to the neurological/chemical make-up inherently "different" in each person. No matter how human we all are, your chemical balance is the actual signature of your individuality which is why some people can take a medication with little side effect while others can react badly to them.
The extent of our personalities is based upon the chemical neurons firing off in our heads and can be influenced by internal stimuli as well as outward stimuli found within our environment. This is why it is considered rare for an individual to experience a complete and total personality change due to trauma as personality changes are known to be linked to the chemical fluctuations found within the neurological system of our brains, hearts, and the chemical process of the body as a whole.
My first step-father was nearly killed in a motorcycle accident and was one of many rare cases documented as experiencing a total and complete personality change. He was also found to be schizophrenic, but his schizophrenia was not the issue of his personality changing so completely...the brain injury was. He also had permanent amnesia of who I or my mother were to him. He could remember everything else in his life from before the accident...except us...and to my knowledge, still does not have any memory of us prior to the accident but can only relate to our existence in terms of after the accident...that nice lady and her daughter that visited him in the hospital and re-hab for the whole year.
As for myself, due to my epileptic nature and the drug therapy I take, for the most part it is difficult to discern, even for myself, what I will say or do next. In the perspective of predictability, I do not conform to the norm.
