Why do you go into depression? What is the relationship between depression and brain chemistry? Many people are unaware that depression has a more biological and chemical part. That is, our brain on a more physical level is not working well, in the same way that sometimes the kidneys or heart fail in the body. However, with depression, people blame the sufferer by making them believe that they are not trying hard enough to feel better, but is this really the case?
Could depression be caused by neurotransmitter deficiencies? For a person to have depression, multiple factors can be involved. While it is true that part of the solution lies in the person and their attitudes, another part often requires the use of medication to solve what is not functioning correctly in the brain. In depression, neurotransmitters have often failed and in Psychology-Online we will see everything about them and How neurotransmitters affect depression.
What is a neurotransmitter?
The are some biomolecules that fulfill the function of transmitting information between neuronsthat is, the information that a neuron has (which are the cells that are in the brain) is transmitted to other neurons or other cells in the body to give an order, such as moving a leg, or informing about something in the environment, such as indicating it is raining.
There are many types of neurotransmitters and the group of adrenergic neurotransmitters is involved in depression. Among the neurotransmitters involved in depression, we find dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. Let’s look at the brain chemistry of depression.
Neurotransmitters of depression
What is the brain of a person with depression like? As we said, there are three main neurotransmitters that participate in depression. Each of the neurotransmitters involved in depression has different functions:
- : participates in libido, appetite, the ability to feel (physical) pain, the sleep-wake cycle and the regulation of anxiety and aggression. It is also responsible for the production of. Serotonin is of utmost importance since it is necessary for decision-making processes, in motivation, expression of emotions and memory, interest in doing things, in the movement of the body (lack of serotonin causes a lot of heaviness at the body level ) and in the regulation of emotions, so the lack of it, in addition to generating sadness, can cause suicidal ideation. In this article we talk specifically about the.
- Norepinephrine: It is activated in moments of stress as a means of survival in the face of supposed dangers. It is responsible, therefore, for “awakening the body.”
- : is responsible for reward mechanisms and alert systems.
A decrease in these three neurotransmitters causes depression. In fact, antidepressants work to increase their transmission, focusing on some more than others depending on the type of antidepressant. Psychological therapy also seeks to improve this transmission through exercises such as, for example, helping the person to have a more active life, to have a more positive and more realistic point of view, among many other techniques. In this article we explain.
Other diseases related to neurotransmitters
In the same way that the decrease in the transmission of the biomolecules that we have talked about can generate depression, their increase can cause other types of psychological disorders.
- In the case of the norepinephrinean imbalance can cause a bipolar or unipolar depressive psychosis.
- In the case of the dopaminehigh levels can cause and low levels can cause .
- On the other hand, there are many other neurotransmitters involved in mental disorders, since the slight variation in the amount of their transmission causes great damage to people. In the case of glutamatewhich is related to sensory, emotional and motor information and, in addition, in other processes such as memory, it is associated with the event that there is a decrease in this substance.
Furthermore, variation in neurotransmission can be caused by a gene, as in the case of autism, he . The same gene would also be involved in bipolar disorder.
Finally, we must keep in mind that the effects that an excess or lack of a neurotransmitter can cause vary greatly depending on the area of the brain in which we are located. As we have already mentioned in other articles, the effects that problems will have on neurotransmission depend on the function that that area has. For example, if this chemical imbalance occurs in the central area of the brain and there is an excess of dopamine, it could occur. schizophrenia.
All this information helps us, therefore, to have a clearer idea about what can cause a mental illness and consequently understand what needs to be changed and repaired to improve the mental health of the person with the information it provides us. brain chemistry.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Neurotransmitters involved in depressionwe recommend that you enter our category.
Bibliography
- Arora V, et al. Increased Grik4 Gene Dosage Causes Imbalanced Circuit Output and Human Disease-Related Behaviors. Cell Reports. 2018
- Ayano, G. (2016). Common neurotransmitters: Criteria for neurotransmitters, key locations, classifications and functions. APN, 1(1), 1-5.
- White cross. H., Lupercio. P., Collas. J., and Castro. E. (2016). Neurobiology of major depression and its pharmacological treatment. Mental Health, 3947-58.
- Guadarrama. L., Escobar. A., and Zhang. L. (2006). Neurochemical and neuroanatomical bases of depression. Journal of the UNAM Faculty of Medicine, 49, 66-72.
- World Health Organization. (2019). Depression. January 29, 2020, from WHO Website: https://www.who.int/es/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression.