Here's once again our expert quote from the widely acknowledged Medical Reference Text, Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, Thirteenth Edition:

"CHARACTERIZATION OF NEW NEUROTRANSMITTER CANDIDATES

More than 60 neurotransmitter candidates have been identified in the brain based upon localization within synaptic vesicles, release with depolarization, and interactions with postsynaptic receptors. The functions of these agents, many of which are small-molecular-weight peptides (neuropeptides), remain obscure in many cases. But some are known to modulate functions such as pain transmission (opioid peptides), satiety (cholecystokinin), and thirst (angiotensin)...

Many of these newly discovered neuropeptides appear to share nerve terminals and often even secretory vesicles with conventional neurotransmitters. It appears likely that neuropeptides exert profound modulatory effects on the actions of the primary neurotransmitter. In other cases the peptide may influence neuronal plasticity, growth, or differentiation...

Identification of the subclasses of the alpha- and beta-adrenergic, serotoninergic, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and glutamatergic receptors makes it possible to correlate structure and function and provide a rational basis for molecular classification of drug actions. In the case of the GABA receptor, structural features that account for the interaction of barbiturates and benzodiazepines can now be recognized...

Subclasses of glutamate receptors mediate excitatory amino acid neurotransmitter effects... The NMDA receptor appears to mediate other functions that heretofore were classed in the category of plasticity, a process considered important, for example, in memory and learning. The NMDA subtype of glutamate receptor is linked to a voltage-sensitive channel that responds to repetitive activation by the opening of an ion channel. The actions of calcium permit transduction of electrical events into molecular changes that can alter neuronal function permanently, i.e., change cellular function to subserve a memory or learning response...

Specific dopaminergic receptors, distinct from the classic alpha- and beta-adrenergic receptors, are present in the central and peripheral nervous system and in several nonneural tissues. Two types of dopaminergic receptors serve different functions and have different second messengers. Dopamine is a potent agonist of both types of receptors; the action of dopamine is antagonized by phenothiazines and thioxanthenes. The dopamine 1 receptor mediates vasodilation in the renal, mesenteric, coronary, and cerebral vascular beds... The dopamine 2 receptor inhibits transmission in the sympathetic ganglia, inhibits NE release from sympathetic nerve endings by an effect on the presynaptic membrane...

The endogenous opioid peptides bind to a family of opioid receptors. The endorphins, enkephalins, and dynorphins, although chemically related, arise from different biosynthetic pathways... These opioid precursors are produced in many parts of the brain, including various hypothalamic nuclei... The limbic system contains substantial quantities of immunoreactive b- endorphin, suggesting a role in memory, learning, and emotion.

Neurons containing the enkephalins are even more widely distributed in the central nervous system. Levels are particularly high in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, a region that contains opiate receptors and is involved in the transmission of pain (see Chap. 11). Enkephalins may act at this location to inhibit pain transmission by sensory nerves...

Physiologic actions for these hormones may include (1) morphine-like analgesic properties, (2) euphoria and other behavioral effects, and (3) neurotransmitter and neuromodulator functions. The peptides may play a role in memory, learning, response to stress, reproduction, pain transmission, and regulation of appetite, temperature, and respiration. In addition, the placebo response, acupuncture-mediated analgesia, stress-induced amenorrhea, and the pathogenesis of shock may be mediated in part by enkephalins and the endorphins. Tranquilization, irritability, agitation, violent behavior, catalepsy, narcolepsy, catatonia, the smoking habit, alcoholism, and drug addiction may all be due to biochemical abnormalities of this system..."

What did you learn just now?

What you can learn from the above is that the Central Nervous System is a super complex conglomerate of cascades of thousands of influences following major regulatory ascending and descending networks, each of which is modulated by numerous chemicals produced by the same system.

Interestingly enough, the neurotransmitter pathways, implicated at present in the pathophysiology of mood disorders and depression in particular, are also intimately interconnected with the endogenous opioid receptors and peptides, which in turn are responsible for the effects of feelings of "pleasure", "energy", "good tone" and "general well-being". As we see from the above paragraphs, they also play significant role in memory, appetite, temperature, respiration and other vital functions, and their "disbalance" may be a factor in aggressive behavior, alcoholism and drug addiction, which as we know can also develop in relation to a preexisting mood disorder.

What is even more interesting, is the fact that this complex system of interconnected and interdependently self-regulated pathways and neurotransmitters can be influenced and modulated at several different levels. They are influenced by outside influences in the form of intake of substances, whether nutrients, medications, or illicit drugs; and by inside stimuli, whether words, thoughts, or actions, which both trigger certain cascades and block others.

In other words, the net effects produced are a result of the action of neurotransmitters and endogenous substances produced by the brain upon specific receptors of the brain. In addition, these effects can be modulated equally effectively from the outside (through foreign to the organism substances) or from the inside (through the naturally produced mediators and the work of the mind, i.e. words, thoughts, actions, etc).

For example, an intense feeling of pleasure, could be achieved by many very different means: it could be a consequence of outside influence of illicit drugs, it could be a result of the experience of "orgasm" during the physiological act of sexual intercourse, or it could be produced by an idea, like the "orgasm" of an erotic fantasy.

The difference is that while illicit drugs carry with their use the ultimate destruction of the very same receptors they target for the initial "high", the natural substances that the system produces on the inside are not only harmless, but they can also enhance the overall health of the individual.

What's to learn from the above then ?

Don't "get high" on drugs or alcohol, don't get "pumped-up" on nicotine, or other stimulants, even if you feel very low and very depressed. Your brain has it all that you need inside! Get "high" and "undepressed" NOT "on drugs", BUT ON YOUR BRAIN! Get "high" and "undepressed", remaining "clean" from drugs by learning how to interact with your own Mind.

You need to come to know your Mind and start a Relationship with it. You can do that by transcending your present state of ignorance about your own Self and the limits of your present one-dimensional interactions with Self and the World.

WHAT ADDRESSES THIS NEED OF YOURS?

TRANSCENDENT ANALYSIS (T-ANALYSIS) DOES.

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