The Four False Mood Types

Adapted from The Mood Cure‘s Chapter 1

Each of the four mood engines in your brain needs a different amino acid fuel. The lower your levels of amino fuel, the more False Mood symptoms you develop. The four emotion-generators in your brain are called neurotransmitters. Each one powers a different emotional zone and each has a distinctly different effect on your mood:

The Dark Cloud of Depression

• If you’re high in serotonin – you’re positive, confident, flexible, and easy-going.
• If you’re sinking in serotonin – you’ll tend to be negative, obsessive, worried, irritable, and sleepless.

The Blahs

• If you’re high in catecholamines – you’re energized, upbeat, and alert.
• If your catecholamines have crashed – you’ll sink into a flat apathetic funk.

Anxiety and Stress

• If you’re high in GABA – you’re relaxed and stress-free.
• If there’s a gap in your GABA – you’ll be wired, stressed, and overwhelmed.

Oversensitive Feelings

• If you’re high in endorphins – you’re full of cozy feelings of comfort, pleasure, and euphoria.
• If you’re near the end of your endorphins – you’ll be crying during commercials, overly sensitive to hurt, and reaching for comfort to sugar, starch, alcohol, or other drugs or behaviors.

You can replenish any deficiency in your own neurotransmitters using the amino acids as described in The Mood Cure. Take the Mood Type Questionnaire to determine your next steps.