Okay, here we go. Depression and mood are controlled by neurotransmitters in the brain. Some of these are familiar to us, like dopamine, serotonin, epinephrine, or norepinephrine. Some are less familiar. A neuron, or brain cell, looks kind of like an amoeba with long dendrites stretching to the other neurons around it. The dendrites almost touch but not quite. The neurotransmitters are responsible for spreading the news, as it were--making thoughts and moods jump from one neuron to the next. If you think about it, it gets really complicated, and theres so much we dont know, what Im telling you will fit on the head of a pin. We have no idea what a thought is or how an idea is transmitted. But we know it is transmitted through the brain by these chemicals. If there is not enough neurotransmitter material between the neurons, thoughts and mood change. We get depressed, and our memory gets out of whack. What antidepressants do is inhibit the reuptake of neurotransmitters--that is, they block them from being absorbed so more of the neurotransmitters stay in between the neurons. That causes our mood to go up. Different antidepressants target different neurotransmitters, but I dont know of any that target them all. That would be almost impossible, because there are different types of neurotransmitters, and they are opposites and used for opposing purposes, some to excite brain activity and some to dampen it down. Whew! Im tired of typing, so we will carry on tomorrow. Remember, I am giving you a VERY SIMPLE explanation of a very complex process, so dont come down on me too hard! Meanwhile, happy Friday!!
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 03:58:09 +0000