How Chemical Imbalances in the Brain Affect Mood and Behavior?

Neurotransmitters are natural substances that facilitate communication between neurons in the brain. Examples of neurotransmitters include serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. Serotonin is a chemical that affects your appetite, arousal, and mood, along with other body functions. It can even impact your digestive health, since serotonin is primarily stored in your gut. Dopamine is often known as the “feel good” chemical, dopamine also affects your behavior, movement, emotion, and cognitive processing abilities. Norepinephrine is a key chemical for your body’s stress response. Norepinephrine manages your alertness and works with adrenaline to activate your fight-or-flight response. An overactive fight-or-flight response can cause nervous system problems, including high heart rate, anxiety, loss of appetite, and insomnia. GABA and glutamate help regulate anxiety and brain activity levels. When neurotransmitters in the brain such as serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine and GABA and glutamate are disrupted – which is commonly referred to as a chemical imbalance – the transmission of information between different regions of the brain becomes altered. This can lead to miscommunication and is thought to be a contributing factor to various mental health disorders. Depending on the severity of the imbalance, it may result in conditions such as anxiety, depression, and, in severe cases, schizophrenia. Researchers hypothesized that a deficiency in certain neurotransmitters could lead to symptoms such as: Persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, or emotional emptiness; Overeating or loss of appetite, Insomnia or excessive sleep, Restlessness, Irritability, A sense of impending doom or danger; Low of energy, Social withdrawal, Emotional numbness or lack of empathy, Mood swings; Thoughts of self-harm or harming others, Inability to perform daily activities, Auditory hallucinations (e.g., hearing voices), drug abuse and difficulty concentrating. These symptoms can affect adults navigating work, relationships or recovery, and teens dealing with school, social pressures or identity development. In either case, untreated chemical imbalances can lead to more serious concerns like major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety, bipolar disorder or co-occurring substance use disorders. A chemical imbalance in the brain can affect anyone—adult or adolescent—and it’s often a key factor in mental health and substance use issues. The good news? It’s treatable. HijamaEnergetics brings forth an holistic approach to overcoming chemical imbalances in the brain. At HijamaEnergetics, we only use natural healing modalities such as Hijama, herbs, nutritionals, bodywork, microcurrent therapy and bioenergetics remedies.