Thoughts & Emotions

Simply put, thoughts are neurochemical events that occur in your brain.  There is no where else for thoughts to occur except the brain.  Therefore, everything that we think of as "mental"--all thoughts, perceptions, our wildest imaginings, are all biological.  Every one of them.  No exception.

 

Individual thoughts are electrial and they are chemical.  One neuron sends an electrical impulse down a dendrite to another neuron. 

 

The electrical impulse then causes the neuron to release chemicals called neurotransmitters into the space between the neurons which is called a synapse.  Here you have an illustration of two neurons and the synapse between them:

 

 

 

You can take a look at this clip to get an idea of what thoughts look like at the most basic level. 

 

In our culture, we tend to think about the mind and body as different and distinct.  People will say that they have a "chemical imbalance" and of course, that implies that the solution must also be chemical.  We also tend to use computer analogies to understand the brain even though the brain is infinitely more complex than are computers. 

 

But did you know that changing your thoughts can change your brain?  This is where the analogy of computers to the brain breaks down the most.  The motherboard of a computer follows the instructions of the software program, but the data that is input cannot change the motherboard whereas habits of thought can very definitely change the architecture of the brain.  The brain is made for change and every time you learn something, including skills for redirecting your thoughts or calming negative emotions, your brain changes.  Neuroscientist, Dr. Michael Merzenich explains how the brain develops and changes in this lecture on TED.

 

When people take psychotropic medications, those medications enter through the mouth, are processed in the digestive system, cross the blood brain barrier, and flood the brain tissues to fill the gaps between neurons presumably making up for low levels of certain neurotransmitters.  And all medications have side effects which is why physicians carefully consider the risks and the benefits before prescribing drugs.  The effectiveness of any medicine is only partly due to the chemical effects of the drug.  That's because all medication relies to some extent on expectancy effects for effectiveness.  This is called the placebo effect.  Any drug has to prove that it is more effective than placebo in order to be approved by the FDA.  But the placebo effect is so powerful that it accounts for up to about 35% of the effectiveness of most drugs.  So, treating depression and anxiety with medications alone is possible, but not the most effective approach.  A much more effective approach is often to combine both medications and strategic psychotherapy.