Drugs do help but it's a shame that all the good ones are so pricey.
I did hear that nicotine can actually raise oxytocin as well as just dopamine. Oxytocin is of course very relevant to this forum because it's the "love hormone" that gets released in response to intimacy, affection, and probably other things like kindness from others. Having pets increases it too.
Then you also have serotonin which is connected to status and b-endorphin which is apparently a way of masking pain, which is why we get it in response to physical exertion.
I forget what's supposed to trigger the release of dopamine in people with drug-free, happy lives... but I do know that lots of recreational drugs increase it a lot. Apparently it's part of your reward system but I'm not sure what it's supposed to be rewarding, lol
Anyway erm, I do think oxytocin is a good one and I'd really like to learn how to increase that (in a healthy way). I get a really euphoric feeling when I have positive social interaction with others but I'm alone so much these days I can hardly even remember what it feels like. I do wonder if that feeling is from an increase in oxytocin.
