SLS Web Magazine

The age-old debate of nature versus nurture is far from settled. There are many new drugs on the market today to treat depression, anxiety and other psychological aliments. Are these drugs telling us that depression, anxiety and other types of psychological distress have an origin in our genetic biology? The accurate answer to this question isn´t the one many media stories would lead you to believe.

Everything we do as human beings is done through our brains. Our environment (This is defined as the localized space and time grid we are physically occupying. An example would be where we work or go to school.) provides us with a steady stream of incoming stimuli and information. Our brain filters this input through our personal history of experiences and synthesizes it into our perceptions of the world. Based on these perceptions, our brain also provides us with behavioral alternatives. We select our behavioral response from the options generated by our brain. The behavior we select then generates a response from the environment. These environmental responses strengthen, weaken or have no effect on our chosen behavior. This cycling of input, perception, behavior, response, and new behavior is ongoing. This "psychological commerce" cycle defines our lifestyle and, to a large extent, who we are as people.

When you talk with a dear friend, the conversation you have changes the electrical and chemical state of your brain (PET scan images of brains in action reveal that different parts of our brain "light up"as we do different kinds of things.) Some conversations make us feel good; others make us feel bad. The brain chemistry of good and bad is driven by the content of the conversation, not by our genetic code. In a similar manner life experiences such as a promotion, a good game of tennis, the loss of a loved one, being trapped in a dead end job, and excessive debt change our brain chemistry for good and bad. An event that can shift our mood into a negative direction is a stressful event. An event that can shift our mood into a positive direction is a joyful event. An event that has no effect on our mood is a neutral event. Everyday we experience thousands of psychological events. Together, they have a cumulative impact on our brain´s electro-chemical functioning. If the "bad days" occur too frequently and/or too intensely, then we can feel anxious, depressed and stressed out. Bad and good days have the power to alter the feelings generated by the mood management systems of our brain.

Two of the brain chemicals (called neurotransmitters) that are thought to be part of the brain´s mood and motivation management system are serotonin and dopamine. The positive reinforcement or rewards our behavior produces alter dopamine levels. Serotonin levels record the net effect our lifestyle is having on our mood. Serotonin levels change with the food we eat, the sleep we get, and the behavior we use. High levels are associated with sleepy contentment and low levels with impulsiveness, aggressiveness, depression and suicidal thinking. If our lifestyle produces few, if any rewards, and a lot of stressful events then our dopamine and serotonin levels will be effected and our mood will decline.

Our genetics affect this picture by setting our reward sensitivity thresholds and by determining the ease with which we can learn a new behavior pattern. But there is another human brain capability that also has a profound potential effect on our psychology: self-awareness. Self-awareness has given human beings the unique ability to consciously control their actions. Religions often refer to this as having "free will". This freedom makes us responsible for our behavior-a responsibility which the "my chemistry made me do it"excuse is challenging.

Self-awareness or self-consciousness is one of the last human abilities to evolve. It´s full potential is only partially understood. We do know that self-awareness empowers us to objectively view our environment: to step back from it, to analyze it and then alter it. And by altering our environment we alter ourselves. When Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they became self-conscious of themselves in contrast to the world around them. This new found self-awareness caused them to be expelled from Paradise. Self-awareness is a great and powerful gift that carries a heavy price tag: personal responsibility.

Animals cannot make self-conscious choices. They can only make unreflective choices. But human self-awareness requires cultivation and development for us to achieve optimal control of our lives. For this reason, people differ in the power of their self-awareness. The differences are due to a combination of genetic inheritance and learning histories. Our genetic code designs the brain systems responsible for executing self-aware thoughts and actions. But self-awareness is not a slave to its chemistry. In fact, it can alter its chemistry as biofeedback training and some eastern disciplines have illustrated. Self-awareness is our most powerful tool and with it we can effectively manage and/or modify many, if not all, psychological and lifestyle problems. The achievement of more powerful configurations of self-awareness, however, can be a painful learning process. Self-deception and denial create the psychological resistance and pain that must be overcome before our self-awareness can re-configure into a more effective form.

So the next time you read or hear that serotonin (or any other chemical) is the cause of depression, anorexia or any other behavior or emotion you´ll know that you haven´t been told the full story. Because human psychology has three faces: environment, brain chemistry and self-awareness. Stay informed.

You can share your views with me by sending your emails to me at santoro@slsres.com