There are a few different ways to look at neurotransmitters and their functions. Most sources take a finite approach, looking at the micro science of the nerve, its neurotransmitters, and their functions.
I take a more global approach, explaining each neurotransmitter system, what they react to, and how each neurotransmitter system reacts to each other. This is the best approach if you want to really understand the neurotransmitters and their functions, and how they affect our daily life.
Neurotransmitters and their functions are dynamic, having a huge impact on our thinking, our feelings, and our perceptions.
Our brain has individual neurotransmitter systems that are interdependent, actually communicating with one another. When people use illicit drugs or medications that affect one system, inevitably the other systems that are connected will adjust themselves in some reactionary balance to the change.
Most of the information and literature available on neurotransmitters and their functions are tremendously vast, complex, and difficult to grasp. Unfortunately, popular science often gets so stuck on the details, that they end up missing the big picture. By doing this, they complicate the way we understand the brain.
Though my methods of explanation provide a clearer and more comprehensive understanding of how the brain functions (especially in reaction to medications and illicit drugs), there are caveats to this approach. One must remember that there is more complexity underneath this new conceptual approach to the study of the brain, as revealed in Brain in Balance: Understanding the Genetics and Neurochemistry behind Addiction and Sobriety.
A question for those of you who have already read Brain in Balance: Have you found any other book that provides an equally comprehensive overview of how the brain’s neurotransmitters and their functions affect our daily life? Or are there any other books about the brain’s neurotransmitters that you’ve found interesting?