Posted by linkadge on May 3, 2009, at 20:40:32
In reply to Re: drug for motivation! » seldomseen, posted by garnet71 on May 3, 2009, at 20:20:11
Stimulants can improve motivation for some people and some tasks (especially well known tasks).
Stimulants don't always improve motivation however. It depends on the ballance of monoamines in the prefrontal cortex. If dopamine concentrations are already high in the prefrontal cortex, you can actually induce depression by elevating them further.
This is why people take their time and sip coffee when performing certain tasks. The right ratio of dopamine to serotonin will increase motivation, but if you increase dopamine too far you can start to induce depressive, antisocial and/or amotivational syndromes.
This is why some people compain of depression and apathy on stimulans. If you reach this point, the stimulant does not increase motivation but rather decreases it. In this case, you may actually benifit from a lower dose, or even the addition of an SSRI.
Linkadge
poster:linkadge
thread:893899
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090426/msgs/894119.html