>>What chemical?<<
Serotonin, a neurotransmitter which makes the brain feel happier, more confident.
Read "Listening to Prozac" by Peter D. Kramer, it's fascinating if you are interested in human behavior. He's a psychiatrist in private practice, writing about his experiences in how Prozac affects his patients. Prozac inhibits the re-uptake of serotonin in the brain, so there is more serotonin available.
I've also got a book on research on serotonin, a number of research articles collected. Monkeys who win fights for dominances put out more serotonin than before the fight. The higher up the totem pole you go, the more serotonin. People in prison have low serotonin. If you give them medication like Prozac, they are less violent. Abused children have low serotonin.
My mother takes something like it, and I've tried it a couple of times when I was having a series of bad days. It does make one more cheerful, but I wouldn't want to take it every day, although I can't quite put my finger on the reason why. It's not like amphetamine or other uppers, it's not like an opiate, you don't feel druggy. I think it interferes with my memory, and it definitely is hard on the sex drive.
I think there are newer things that don't interfere with the sex drive, but I don't feel like I need them. If I did feel really depressed for more than a day or two, I'd take something for sure.
The point you're making, about cognitive dead ends, is good, too. People get into these failed loops, as you say, and need to recognize that.
A lot of it is society as a whole. As a 49 year old woman, I know how deadly social expectations used to be for women, and that they are better now, but still pretty hard to meet. Not that social expectations for men are not deadly too. If a man doesn't look like George Cluny or another movie star, if he's not an athlete, if he doesn't make a lot of money, if he's not a business success, he's got to have a lot of resilience. |
