No.

Developers can set isSystem to true and forcePm to true when sending the PM, and it overrides the restriction. IPB can still send a PM from one user to himself, but users cannot through the interface.

I think I'm missing something because I tried what you advised and it still throws the CANT_SEND_TO_SELF exception.

my code:

		#setup messenger lib

        require_once( IPSLib::getAppDir( 'members' ) . '/sources/classes/messaging/messengerFunctions.php' );

        $this->messenger    = new messengerFunctions( $this->registry );


		#finally... send a message		

		$this->messenger->sendNewPersonalTopic( $this->memberData['member_id'], 

												$this->settings['eco_shopitems_pm_sender'], 

												array(), 

												$message_title, 

												$message_body, 

												array(  'origMsgID'     	=> 0,

														'fromMsgID'      	=> 0,

														'postKey'           => md5(microtime()),

														'trackMsg'        	=> 0,

														'addToSentFolder' 	=> 0,

														'hideCCUser'        => 0,

														'forcePm'         	=> TRUE,

														'isSystem'          => TRUE,

													 )

											   );

Post in the peer to peer forum if you need help.