Pharmaceutical Technologies of the Self, or The Age of Ambien
While much has been said about new technologies of the self and how they change us, there are a limited amount of studies that examine how specific medications or specific disorders are related to conceptions and articulations of self. A wealth of theoretical work and social criticism about the management of selves has explored claims that humans are becoming pharmaceutical selves. New technologies of self-making, including institutional health campaigns, scientific calibrations of normal and abnormal sleep, suggestions of health care professionals, and direct-to-consumer marketing of pharmaceuticals, compel individuals to assess their sleep habits, maximize their sleep potentials, and reclaim their selves with a drug. This study seeks to better understand these scientific technologies and their dynamic relations to the experience of self and self-making. It uses the case of insomnia and the pharmaceutical treatment, Ambien, to explore the ways these technologies operate.