Emotions: not that complex, just biology

Emotions can be very overwhelming. Before children have the vocabulary to express feelings, emotions feel larger than life.  Often, stimuli associated with negative emotions are viewed by children as “scary” or even “bad.”

There are plenty of instances during which adults fall into a similar predicament, but in such instances adults tend to repress or avoid processing emotions. For example, the extremely intense emotions can be brought on by traumatic experiences during childhood. The memory is stored at the developmental level during the experience. New experiences somewhat related trigger the extreme emotions. The antidote is to retrieve traumatic memories and translate them with adult vocabulary, making memories less cumbersome to recall.

How interesting the impact of emotions on human experience. Emotions bear so much weight for human beings, looking at the perspective of a whole society of experiences- in literature, for example. When boiled down, emotions are merely neurochemicals sending nerve impulses down synapses…

Enkephalins: Inhibit transmission of pain. Reduce unnecessary appetite cravings, inhibit depressed mood. The “off” mechanism creating effects to similar endorphins.

Norepinephrine, Dopamine, Acetylcholine, Phenylethylmine: Feel good neurotransmitters

GABA: Inhibits several negative emotions. Promotes relaxation and increases concentration.

Neurotransmitters Referenced at  http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/S/Synapses.html

Information from chart compiled from: http://asktom-naturally.com/neurotransmitters.html