But what is left of me -- the real me -- if I try to force myself to have feelings I do not really have, if I no longer know what I really feel, want, need, and why I should do all the things that people tell me to do? I can force myself to achieve -- at work, in sports, in everyday life. But if I force alien feelings on myself (with or without the aid of substances like alcohol, drugs, and medication), I shall be confronted sooner or later with the consequences of this self-deception. I reduce myself to a mask and do not know who I really am. The source of that knowledge lies in my genuine feelings; those feelings correspond with my experiences. And the guardian of those experiences is my body. Its memory.
-- Alice Miller, The Body Never Lies, p. 173-174
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