[Jrock]

Does anyone happen to know what areas of the brain and chemicals cause "sense of humor" and enthusiasm? Not that I don't have either but I find it difficult to flip those "switches". For the most part, I often feel like I have to force myself to laugh. Where as some people it just comes so naturally.

I tried doing some research on the topic and have come up to some dead ends.......

Thanks

 

[Jrock]

Thanks......it seems dopamine is the root of all SA problems

 

[nothing to fear]

high levels of serotonin would as well but dopamine seems more closely linked to SA

 

[Jrock]

It's dopamine of course. Dopamine is the mediator of all pleasure and happiness, as well as desire and drive. It's the pro-life force.. it's what gives you that capacity to say something and successfully go through with it in a conversion (what us SAers apparently have trouble doing successfully). Think about the reason people are attracted to charisma.. enthusiasm.. humor, and so forth. It's because those things are pleasurable! They make you feel good. Anything else that causes such feelings does it through dopamine, including serotonin (most antidepressants, MDMA..), GABA (alcohol..), and all the rest.

Is introvert/extrovert stuff related to dopamine as well? I like being an introvert to a certain degree but too much "inner" shizzal is freakin depressing.....

 

[TheGecko]

Is introvert/extrovert stuff related to dopamine as well? I like being an introvert to a certain degree but too much "inner" shizzal is freakin depressing.....

The way your neurons in your brain are connected as you were growing up, as well as genetic factors probably come into it as well.

 

[Jrock]

It's dopamine of course. Dopamine is the mediator of all pleasure and happiness, as well as desire and drive. .

So...people who are naturally finding humor in things and naturally smile have what? High levels of dopamine? Low? Less sesitive? More? How does all that work?

 

[Jrock]

Serotonin is the big *focus* when its comes to drug manufactures. What its' role suppose to be?

 

[My911GT2993]

to ROCKNOLL714: dont laugh, you seem pretty knowledgable, is there anything someone can eat/drink to increase dopamine levels ? ? ? or is that a stupid question

 

[Medline]

Eat some crystal meth... Stop! ... stay with L-Tyrosine, it's said to be safer.

Some other options would be L-Phenylalanine, Bupropion (Wellbutrin XL), low dose Amisulpride or Sulpiride, low dose Selegiline, dopamine agonists like Pramipexole, Ropinirole... and of course "harder" drugs like Ritalin / Concerta / Focalin, Adderall / Vyvanse / Dexedrine...

 

[belfort]

so, dopamine is closely related to pleasure/motivation and a great sense of humor, ease at laughing at everything..welli almost have to disagree at least in my case..anyone that knows me knows that i laugh more than anyone else, i find humor in the smallest things yet i find pleasure in very FEW things if that makes any sense....plus, my motivation/desire system is completely sluggish so do i have high or low dopamine levels??

 

[Medline]

L-Dopa -> Dopamine...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099077/

@belfort: For feelings of pleasure you also need stuff like endorphins... dopamine is there to motivate people to get things done in life. Of course that's not it's only function, but a very important one.

 

[Jrock]

L-Dopa -> Dopamine...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099077/

@belfort: For feelings of pleasure you also need stuff like endorphins... dopamine is there to motivate people to get things done in life. Of course that's not it's only function, but a very important one.

Thanks medline.....what are the "other" functions. Thats why adderall was a little less then ok for me

 

[Medline]

Thanks medline.....what are the "other" functions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine#Functions_in_the_brain

 

[Jrock]

http://www.wireheading.com/intracran/humourcentre.htm

I guess that explains why some people are able to access humor more effectively then others. I still wonder what chemicals are activating this "Laughter Centre"

 

[RockiNToM]

You know I don't mean to be negative, but knowing that dopamine is the root of all SA, really makes me feel extremely depressed.Why?! because I know that people who are in a good job that they like, who do well, who are out-going, enthusiastic and successful are the ones with better dopamine levels than you and me. Knowing that my dopamine levels are low, which causes my problems doesn't help me know how to fix the problem either. All it does is, allow me to know that in order to fix this, will require me to be on a med that inhibits/acts on dopamine. But the chances of such a med for some of us are slim, because we live in a world where medicines that work on dopamine are open to abuse and so, not everyone is allowed access to them. So while we suffer and ponder what it must be like to have higher dopamine levels, those who naturally do have higher levels, live in bliss.

 

[Jrock]

http://www.wireheading.com/intracran/humourcentre.html

 

[Jrock]

and....

I haven't read this yet, but here is a longer article I found on the same site. Let me read what it has to say.......

http://www.wireheading.com/intracran/funbrain.html

EDIT: yea that link was kind of a waste of my reading time

 

[Kanes]

Just to chime in, I have found that dopamine is HUGE in conquering SA. If you read through my somewhat long posts in my adderall + klonopin thread you can see the experiences that I have recounted so far.

Basically, adderall (i.e. amphetamine) has so far seemed to be the single most powerful drug that literally transforms me from a socially anxious mess into an extremely outgoing, extroverted, extremely confident guy. Of course, I am sure there are other drugs that may be equally as effective or at least similarly effective. The main one I would look at is Nardil since it combines both a boost in dopamine along with some GABA agonism all in one magic little pill.

Don't give up! There is hope for you. Plenty of it.

 

[IllusionalFate]

I'm thinking serotonin would be better for sense of humor/enthusiasm, specifically ligands that preferentially act as 5-HT1A or 5-HT2A agonists. Why? Because I'd imagine these two modes of action is how MDMA and AMT, respectively, induce extremely powerful empathogenesis.

 

[jim_morrison]

hey rocknroll I have a question, GABAergics (Klonopin, Alcohol..) seem to give me the best relief from anxiety. Do they, through some mechanism boost Dopamine? because I've heard somewhere that particularly Klonopin can downregulate certain neurotransmitters and cause depression, I'm a bit confused.