What causes unhappiness?

[xNTP]

Top contenders:
Fear of fear
Dishonesty with one's self
Clinging to the past and future
The pursuit of happiness

(these are all different ways of saying the same thing)

[HappyNoodleBoy]

no sex

[Delilah]

No love.

[Dr. Haight]

No money

[Utopmk]

Originally Posted by Dr. Haight

No money

.agreed

[Thevenin]

Low dopamine levels, however they may be effectuated by internal or external environmental stimuli. Other neurotransmitters also play a part as well as endorphin levels, etc. Environmental stimuli would comprehend the list of four top contenders and others. Both genetics and conditioning determine one's propensity for unhappiness.

[Thevenin]

Originally Posted by Thevenin

Low dopamine levels, however they may be effectuated by internal or external environmental stimuli. Other neurotransmitters also play a part as well as endorphin levels, etc. Environmental stimuli would comprehend the list of four top contenders and others. Both genetics and conditioning determine one's propensity for unhappiness.

Add serotonin levels to the list. Yeah, I know this is "dorky" but it's all true. All the listed "emotional" causes of unhappiness will cause measurable changes in dopamine, serotonin, and other neurochemicals.

[xNTP]

Originally Posted by Thevenin

Low dopamine levels, however they may be effectuated by internal or external environmental stimuli. Other neurotransmitters also play a part as well as endorphin levels, etc. Environmental stimuli would comprehend the list of four top contenders and others. Both genetics and conditioning determine one's propensity for unhappiness.

Originally Posted by Thevenin

Add serotonin levels to the list. Yeah, I know this is "dorky" but it's all true. All the listed "emotional" causes of unhappiness will cause measurable changes in dopamine, serotonin, and other neurochemicals.

I have problems with people explaining things in terms of neurotransmitters. It seems like an incomplete explanation. You're not wrong, but you haven't explained what serotonin really IS. I'm not asking you to classify it as a neurotransmitter, or to classify it by it's relationship to other biological phenomena, but to offer its cognitive correlate(s). Give a depressed person an SSRI and their cognition changes. Their approach to their own problems changes. How does their cognition change? affect?

[Thevenin]

Originally Posted by Edahn

I have problems with people explaining things in terms of neurotransmitters. It seems like an incomplete explanation. You're not wrong, but you haven't explained what serotonin really IS. I'm not asking you to classify it as a neurotransmitter, or to classify it by it's relationship to other biological phenomena, but to offer its cognitive correlate(s). Give a depressed person an SSRI and their cognition changes. Their approach to their own problems changes. How does their cognition change? affect?

Actually, neurotransmitters and controlling them therapeutically is extremely complex, because, in the exemplary case of serotonin, it's not just the concentrations in the brain per se, but where in the brain these concentrations vary. Another example: Low dopamine levels in the pre-frontal cortex (behind the forehead) correlate with ADHD-like behavior and emotions, whereas low dopamine levels in another part of the brain could be the cause of Parkinsons-like tremors.

Typically, SSRIs don't actually make someone feel "happy," but, when they work, they do tend to make people less unhappy, and provide more of a "firewall" against depression. But, to me, the interesting thing is that all the environmental things that make people feel unhappy correlate with changes in neurotransmitter levels. So here we have environmental factors actually altering the brain. What we have is a direct correlation between biochemistry and behavior.

Finally, the benefit of SSRIs is that they can allow depression to lift to the point where "talk therapy" can work.

Interestingly, one theory as to why some people commit suicide after starting SSRIs is that it works enough initially to remove the paralysis of depression. So, while still depressed, they are then able to carry through with suicide.

[!diom]

Originally Posted by Edahn

Their approach to their own problems changes. How does their cognition change?

Their approach does change, but the important thing is that a non-depressed person actually deals with their problems, while a depressed person may not. After overcoming depression, they may redefine their problems after thinking them through with a clearer head. Also, they don't limit themselves to fixing what's wrong, and will strive to build on what's right. In short, they become more proactive and optimistic.