the neurochemical foundation of our emotional life

farbentanz, 2011

the photo in blog 9 is called “farbentanz” and was taken in my backyard. once again, i was unable to hold the camera still, despite my usually steady hand. all jokes aside, the picture is a nice result of blurring created by moving the camera when using a low shutter speed.

blog 7 focused on neural networks. in today’s blog, i will talk about the most important transmitters. they form the foundation of our emotional life.

the cell membranes of neurons are stimulated by a random impulse. this nerve impulse wanders along cell processes that are up to one meter long and are called axons, to the synapses, where transport vesicles (small bags) filled with neurotransmitters (i.e. dopamine) are standing by.

the transmitters released through this nerve impulse now stimulate the reception center (dendrites) or the neighboring target cell until it “fires” as well, thus forwarding this signal by means of action potentials (a series of electrical signal impulses) through its axon to the next target cell, thereby stimulation the latter again.

the whole thing is thus an electrochemical form of signal transmission from cell to cell by means of releasing various neurotransmitters. this happens in milliseconds up to seconds. according to recent studies, most neurons develop several transmitters. transmitters are stimulating, but also debilitating. drugs take advantage of this by chemically interfering at these synapses.

neurotransmitters (in the brain): glutamate, important for the learning process and potentially responsible for developing schizophrenia and maybe other diseases.

neuromodulators, which create our consciousness and our mental state:

dopamine, our motor for happiness, desire, satisfaction, rewards and our working memory!

serotonin, for our pleasure system and our emotional life.

noradrenalin, for attention, new stimuli, depression; in combination with adrenalin it is also very important for our stress system in combination with adrenalin.

acetylcholine, for our memory formation.

neuropeptides: opioids - endorphins, morphine created by the body to suppress pain, but also to increase happiness. more than one hundred different types have been discovered so far.

vasopressin, to regulate liquid volume

oxytocin, which generally strengthens relationships, i.e. between mother and child or between partners. sex actually raises the release of oxytocin and therefore leads to closer relationships. additionally, sex strengthens the immune system.

neurohormones: corticotropin-releasing-factor (crf), which produces the hormone acth. this “axis of stress” in turn plays a key role in traumatic events.

many readers might now recall traumatic experiences from school. don’t worry, it’s not necessary to understand the many complex biochemical processes up to the molecular level. i am, however, firmly convinced that it is worth it to loosely memorize the above mentioned terms as they will come up again when attempting to explain feelings, mental state, pleasure through all our senses, problems of stress, learning, conscious and unconscious experience, up to better understanding diseases and the effectiveness of drugs. the more you hear about something – learn it –, the better it will stay in our memory.

our whole life is based on learning processes, real experiences – thus psychological processes – which influence the synapses’ willingness to transmit, in a stimulating as well as a debilitating way. this can and must be recognized and used, particularly also in psychotherapy.

understanding these complex processes in our brain and our body, and the functionality of our subconscious in particular, in combination with the microcosm of quantum physics and epigenetics gives us a new perspective on being human.

sources: gerhard roth, klaus grawe, manfred spitzer