I had an interesting thought today (interesting to me anyway) so I'll share...
There's a very loose and difficult to understand concept in psychology called "lack of introspection" that sounds rather benign for what it actually describes. Most people have heard the old adage "if you think you're crazy...you aren't"...and it comes from this concept. I've had very close personal relationships with several people with rather severe mental health problems so I'll try to describe it as best I can.
It is a delusional belief which the person experiencing cannot attribute to the correct source. No amount of arguing, reasoning, or pleading will change this. The person experiencing the delusion will always incorrectly attribute it to the wrong source. Sounds simple, right? Yet it's hard to explain without experiencing. Here's an example...
A person hears voices in their head. To them...they appear real and very frightening, even threatening or mocking. They come to the conclusion that the voices are being projected into their mind by the CIA...despite the presence of rational, trusted, loved ones explaining to them that they are experiencing auditory hallucinations from a mental illness. The person experiencing them may have been the type who would have laughed at such ideas as nonsense prior to experiencing their delusions...it really makes no difference how rational or logical or reasonable they were prior to the experience. Even after treatment, the person may never accept that their hallucinations were indeed hallucinations....it is heartbreaking to experience, I can only promise you.
Well, today it occurred to me that certain illicit drugs can also produce this affect. Most commonly, methamphetamine induced insomnia can result in a lack of introspection....but it's unclear whether the lack of sleep or the drug itself is to blame. Drugs known to directly induce a lack of introspection are typically powerful hallucinogenics or psychotropics. Angel dust or PCP has a rather long history of stories about people jumping out of windows, mutilating themselves, or committing crimes that the person wouldn't have otherwise. People think LSD has a similar effect...but that seems mostly tied to anti-drug propaganda and less to reality. Ayahuasca is another powerful hallucinogen capable of commonly inducing a lack of introspection...but it seems to be less likely to be a negative effect, the kind typically associated with paranoia or other dangerous beliefs. Finally, salvia divinorum seems to have an immediate and profoundly strong effect that leads to an immediate lack of introspection. If anyone has no idea what I mean, simply Google for videos of someone smoking salvia (it's not illegal everywhere) and you'll see an example. I've seen a video where 30 seconds to 1 minute after inhaling it, the person climbed atop their couch and out a window in fear of whatever they were experiencing.
Anyways, my thought was that perhaps if this state of mind can be approached both from a mental condition and chemically, then it stands to reason that there is a rather specific part of the brain, or even a region of the brain, that is directly linked to our awareness of what is "real" and what is not. It would be a mistake to say that the hallucination itself is the cause, as many people have eaten "magic mushrooms" and never at any point mistakenly believed their hallucinations to be real. It would make more sense that a part of the brain directly makes these assessments (and therefore operates within certain parameters in the healthy human mind) and informs the rest of our thought process accordingly. That's not to say that this region correctly determines reality 100% of the time....it simply tells the rest of your brain "this is real...it's happening"....and under certain chemicals, conditions, or even circumstances it switches "on" or even "off" and cannot revert to normal functioning.
I thought this, and what it could mean if such a region were identified and could be "reset" chemically or otherwise. It could mean the difference between a lifetime of struggling with mental illness or being able to fix it, or even just cope with it better. I also wonder if it could be pharmacologically managed in a way that could benefit those who work in high stress situations like an emt or soldier and enhance their ability to "take in" the whole situation and reduce "tunnel vision".
Just a thought.