Dopamine condundrum

If too much dopamine= (positive) symptoms of psychosis and too little dopamine = anxiety then how does that fit in with having psychotic symptoms and anxiety? Or is it the case that when the psychosis reduces due to the lowering of the dopamine then anxiety kicks in ?

Or maybe they are right when they say there is too much dopamine in some areas of the brain and too little in others. This would allow anxiety and psychosis especially positive symptoms to occur together.

I think it would be your last guess about the different dopamine level in areas of the brain, and/or the dopamine raises and lowers quickly in the areas affected that corelate with anxiety and positive symptoms. Like low dopamine triggers huge amounts of dopamine to be made and vise versa causing positive symptoms and anxiety.

Hmmm…

I’d speculate that if that is what you are feeling in states of little dopamine. Then the anxiety is always there but the high amount of dopamine allows you too escape the sense that it is there by contrasting it with good feelings. Perhaps neutralizing it at times.

I use wikipedia a lot. I’m no scholar and the information on there is typically a good overview. The linked wiki paged made no real mention of dopamine or its role in anxiety. It spoke of how the amygdala which controls fear. (R-Complex bullshit of the fight or flight response system) While the hypo-campus provides access to emotional memories. Anxiety is also noted to be an emotional state.

Basically what I’m saying is anxiety is more about brain structure than brain chemistry, which means its also neuroplastic and can be overcome through therapy.

Look into the navy seals training. In order to give seals better control over their fight or flight systems so the can think more clearly in the face of fear. They have to do a lot of things. Like wearing a scuba tank and someone else unplugs their oxygen. While holding their breath under water they have to fix their tank. It’s not uncommon that the soldiers don’t make it in time and have to be brought back up and resuscitated. Blind folded exercises and other things like that. Just being yelled at all the way from basic.

From the wiki:

Social[edit]
Social risk factors for anxiety include a history of trauma (e.g., physical, sexual or emotional abuse or assault), early life experiences and parenting factors (e.g., rejection, lack of warmth, high hostility, harsh discipline, high maternal negative affect, anxious childrearing, modelling of dysfunctional and drug-abusing behaviour, discouragement of emotions, poor socialization, poor attachment, and child abuse and neglect), cultural factors (e.g., stoic families/cultures, persecuted minorities including the disabled), and socioeconomics (e.g., uneducated, unemployed, impoverished (although developed countries have higher rates of anxiety disorders than developing countries)).[50][65]

Gender socialization[edit]
Contextual factors that are thought to contribute to anxiety include gender socialization and learning experiences. In particular, learning mastery (the degree to which people perceive their lives to be under their own control) and instrumentality, which includes such traits as self-confidence, independence, and competitiveness fully mediate the relation between gender and anxiety. That is, though gender differences in anxiety exist, with higher levels of anxiety in women compared to men, gender socialization and learning mastery explain these gender differences.[66][medical citation needed] Research has demonstrated the ways in which facial prominence in photographic images differs between men and women. More specifically, in official online photographs of politicians around the world, women’s faces are less prominent than men’s. Interestingly enough, the difference in these images actually tended to be greater in cultures with greater institutional gender equality.[67]

Basically… You got to face that you have anxiety, be around what makes you anxious, and desensitize.

Don’t fear the anxiety itself, work to understand it.

I thought low serotonin levels contributed most to anxiety levels as well as depression. Too little dopamine is linked to Parkinson’s.

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