CHemical Imbalance

WHat is a chemical imbalance?

[ILADVOCATE]

The reason why people have depression, bipolar, schizophrenia or other psychiatric disabilities. The websites we have listed on the links page could explain. In depression, the level of serotonin is considered too low so anti-depressents raise serotonin. Bipolar is not quite as understood but there is some overactivity in the limbic system (emotional part of the brain). With psychosis there is considered to be an imbalance in dopamine and antipsychotics lower it but its being replaced by a newer theory that there is a lack of glutamate transmission and genetic studies are bearing it out (you can read through my posts for more info. or google "Dr. Javitt, glycine") but those studies are not finalized yet. That's as brief a summary as I can give but with every psychiatric disability there is a specific imbalance in how the neurotransmitters function. The websites we have listed are consumer friendly but if you want more scientific ones you could go through PubMD or I could pm you some links. Interesting topic.

[LeftCoastChick]

Sometimes, and they aren't completely sure why - our natural chemicals go out of whack for some reason or another. I don't wnat to innondate you with too much info. Stress can trigger it, like going to college or a car accident. Some folks are just born lacking the right amount or the chemicals at all.  If you feel you've had depression longer then 2-3 months and it's impacting you life like your social life or work. You may want to speak with your doctor. There isn't a test for this, but it usually can get figured out by indepth questions.

This is a good website with A-Z on everything that you can think of. Check it out:

http://www.helpguide.org/topic_index.htm