How Chemistry Is Used In Psychology Essay

How Chemistry is used in Psychology After highschool I hope to launch the next journey of my life into the field of Psychology. Psychology is the study of the brain and human behavior. Since Psychology studies the human brain, it also involves the study of the different chemicals that affect the brain. The different chemicals released in our brain can affect human behavior, actions, and thought processes. There are over One-Hundred chemicals in the brain. Some major chemicals that affect us daily are dopamine and serotonin. Dopamine is also known as the pleasure and reward neurotransmitter. Dopamine is what makes eating, playing sports and doing things that bring happiness feel good. Consequently, because they feel good, the more likely we are to repeat these habits to be “rewarded” with the same feeling. Everything that makes you feel good is down to this key neurotransmitter and the effect it has on the brain, making dopamine (out of all the other neurotransmitters) most associated with the feeling of pleasure. Dopamine deficiency results in Parkinson's Disease, and

Ninety-five percent of the body’s serotonin can actually be found in the gut, but five percent lies within the brain. Serotonin has a very big effect on a person’s mood, their overall state of mind, their self esteem and their personal views on the world around them. The link between serotonin and how you feel is down to the large variety of serotonin receptors throughout the brain. Different amounts of serotonin receptor types and the range of effects they have, is a big part of the reason this single neurotransmitter can have such large behavioural effects on us emotionally. Serotonin can affect the levels of various other neurotransmitters to be increased or decreased throughout the different regions of our brains. A lack of serotonin in the brain is linked to depression. Drugs, such Ecstasy and LSD stimulates different serotonin receptors, leading to altered or extreme