[Ash.bekah]

Hello all, have a question I can't figure out. If I understand correctly, it is dopamine that gives the high that get people addicted to drugs and whatnot. However, is it not also what gives people the high and bliss of falling in love? So my question is: if dopamine produces the same feelings in love and addiction, is there really a difference between love and addiction? And also if anyone could just shed light on what those differences might be? And any other info please

[408]

Biochemically, no.

However belief in the alternative may give you more fulfilling relationships.

On the other hand, practical application of this knowledge can be...interesting...

[Jasim]

There is a lot more in the concept of love than just a single neuromodulator/neurotransmitter. I would definitely not equate the two.

Dopamine also does a lot more in the brain than just provide a high. The high one experiences is due to the fact that dopamine modulates behavior by reinforcing habits and behaviors...but there is a LOT more involved as I said, even in addiction, there is more than just dopamine. Dopamine also does a lot more than just reinforce behavior...Dopamine can also create aversive experiences...it is dopamine that triggers nausea and the vomit reflex.

Whenever you are talking about neurochemistry, it's NEVER just one chemical or even just one circuitry system...The brain is a very complex network of neural connections and neurons don't just release one chemical, they release many different chemicals to many different places.

Drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine both act on dopamine receptors...but heroin is also addictive, and it's actions are on opiate receptors, not dopamine receptors. Neurochemistry is a complicated subject as the brain is a very complicated organ.

EDIT: I was a neurochemist in an addiction research lab for about 5 years. Our focus was on dopamine, but we also looked at a variety of other neurochemicals.

[fledarmus]

You can never look at one neurotransmitter in isolation, nor can you look at a single portion of the brain in isolation, and determine how it will affect your emotional makeup. It's a lot like mixing colors - you can create an enormous palette of colors by mixing only three "primary" colors, and create a truly astounding variety of pictures by placing those colors into pixels in a panel 1024 pixels wide and 880 pixels tall, and that is only a small approximation of the colors and pictures that your brain can process and understand. Combining even dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin in the appropriate amounts in the appropriate locations of your brain will enable you to experience and enormous variety of emotions.

Of course, if your variety of emotions is too red, then you can adjust your dopamine levels a little and try to get them back to the picture you expect to be looking at...