Chemicals That Equate to Emotions

The dense network of nerves and neurochemicals -- or chemicals the brain uses in its basic functioning -- results in the personalities you encounter every day. Though behavior is not as simple as mapping neurochemicals, psychologists and doctors have found connections between certain chemicals and certain emotional experiences.

Dopamine

• One neurochemcial associated with feelings of euphoria and pleasure is dopamine. This chemical shares the same chemical structure, and function, as many illegal drugs that simulate similar effects. However, making you feel good is far from dopamine's only function. In your brain, healthy levels are essential for fine motor function and voluntary motor control. Patients who suffer from Parkinson's disease have insufficient levels of dopamine in their systems. Additionally, dopamine acts to reduce the intensity of your brain's perception of pain.

Serotonin

• Serotonin is a neurochemical that helps facilitate the transmission of nerve impulses in the brain, and the drug is indirectly related to overall mood stability. This is because low levels of serotonin are linked to depression, with corresponding symptoms such as anxiety. One treatment for depression are medicines known as selective serotonin reputake inhibitors, or SSRIs. These function to increase the amount of serotonin in the brain by preventing certain amounts of serotonin from being taken back up by the areas of the brain that produce it.

Adrenaline

• Adrenaline is a neurochemical associated with excitement and feeling particularly energized. The drug is central to the body's "fight-or-flight" reflexes when you perceive yourself to be in possible danger. These cause your brain to release large amounts of adrenaline to aid your body's functioning in the primitive case that you need to fight or run for your life. Other physiologically stressful situations, short of your life being in immediate danger, can also trigger adrenaline releases.

Oxytocin

• Oxytocin is a drug that's connected with feelings of attachment, both romantic and paternal. Research on animals has shown that inhibiting oxytocin can inhibit the bonding between mother and child that normally occurs in mammals, and inhibit the monogamous behavior of species that usually exhibit monogamous behavior. This chemical is released during events such as childbirth, breastfeeding and physiologically romantic activities. Though the chemical is strongly linked to bonding behaviors, if you are striving for scientific accuracy, it would be wrong to consider oxytocin a "love" chemical.