SEROTONIN BASED MORALITY

Acknowledging that all animals are complex processes who move through the world by taking in sensations and processing them electrochemically, which tells us what to do, then it’s only logical to find out which part of the process works towards the good and the happy.  Serotonin is one of the important players.   A shortage makes you “depressed.”  Enough makes you pleased and amorous.  Too much?  Trouble.  Outside homeostasis.

I’m basing this post on the New York Academy of Sciences article at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3817523/

This "pop" website might be more suited to other readers.  It’ll keep you busy but be warned.  They misspell a lot of words, which means either that they don’t proof or they are not readers.  Still, who can object to eating sunflower seeds?  You’ll need your credit card — these folks are selling.

https://bodyecology.com/articles/boost_serotonin_happiness_heals_brain.php

I was first prompted to be curious about serotonin when I read “Urban Aboriginals: A Celebration of Leather Sexuality.” by Geoff Mains, a shocking but beloved book and man.  Because he had a doctorate in biochemistry, he related serotonin to radical sexual behavior in the “leather” community, some of it prompted by PTSD.  This took medical mysteries into daily life.  His papers are archived at www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c83b60qk/  
The “finding aid” is at http://www.glbthistory.org/research/FA/glbths_1989_03_GeoffMains_FA.pdf  There are restrictions because society is still so squiffy and punishing about sex.  The links may be suppressed.

Serotonin is ancient and mammal-ominpresent.  (Our kind of sex is a mammal phenomenon.  Reptiles don’t fall in love.)  It keys into everything from sugar to weed to the tryptophan in the Thanksgiving turkey.  (ncbi.nim.nih says the turkey thing is a myth.)   A map of where it operates in the brain almost exactly matches what is called “the social brain,” particularly the parts involved in social cognition and decision making.  Even in monkeys, abundant molecules “co-vary” with prosocial behavior (grooming, cooperation and affiliation) and when low, matches with aggression and social isolation.  Deficient serotonin matches with depression.  (One can’t help speculating that our whole culture is serotonin deficient.)

“Moral codes dictate how people should treat one another, and most of these focus on two facets of social relationships. The first prescribes caring for others and prohibits harm; the second relates to the fair distribution of resources and reciprocity in social interactions.  Concerns for harm and fairness play a central role in moral codes across cultures, and there is some evidence that these building blocks of morality shape social behavior in primates.”

Chimps can be killers; bonobos are always lovers.  The diff may be partly in their serotonin.  There is evidence that serotonin and similar hormones are what create personalities and that the proportions and actions are inheritable.  People who are harm-averse (high serotonin) do not rape.  But there are two other valences: those who are disgusted by harm to people and therefore get out of there; and those who become aggressive in the face of harm.  High serotonin that triggers aversion may be useful for predicting problematic situations to avoid.

QUOTES:

Early studies in rats demonstrated that global brain serotonin depletion made them insensitive to punishment.

Cooperative behaviors in social dilemmas have been linked to serotonin function.

The association between serotonin and social reward processing dovetails with previous reports linking serotonin function to the processing of non-social rewards and recent studies showing that social and monetary rewards engage overlapping regions of the striatum. Collectively, these findings indicate that the role of serotonin in value computation goes beyond a simple enhancement or inhibition of reward processing in general; instead, serotonin's effects appear to depend on the social context. We suggest that serotonin amplifies neural representations of positive social preferences, whereas serotonin depletion shifts neural value computations toward selfish or even negative social preferences.

Assuming that people are predisposed to cooperate in social dilemmas (i.e., that their indifference curves are downward-sloping, absent concerns about inequality), serotonin augmentation should shift preferences further counterclockwise, making people more cooperative, whereas serotonin depletion should shift preferences clockwise, making people less cooperative.  Finally, previous studies have shown that serotonin manipulations influence aggressive behavior, particularly in people predisposed to aggression. Assuming that aggressive individuals have upward-sloping indifference curves (i.e., they are motivated to harm others) serotonin augmentation again should shift preferences counterclockwise, reducing aggression, whereas serotonin depletion should shift preferences further clockwise, increasing aggression.

This sort of inquiry is only suggestive, not definitive.  We don’t know enough to say that all politicians should be tested for their serotonin levels, but it does suggest that the general public is susceptible to persons with serotonin deficits who don’t want to cooperate, don’t want to avoid harm, don’t want fair shares for everyone.  We don’t vote for bonobos — we vote for chimps — as long as they seem to be on our side.

Unconscious efforts to make serotonin go up may include eating sweets, going for a walk at first light, eating foods high in tryptophan, like chickpeas.  In my experience chocolate, sex and praise make my serotonin go up — but it might involve some other interacting hormone as well.

“Breeding corn with a higher tryptophan content was shown in the 1980s to prevent pellagra; presumably, it also raised brain serotonin. In a recent issue of Nature Biotechnology, Morris and Sands argue that plant breeders should be focusing more on nutrition than on yield. They ask, “Could consumption of tryptophan-rich foods play a role in reducing the prevalence of depression and aggression in society?” Cross-national studies have reported a positive association between corn consumption and homicide rates and a negative association between dietary tryptophan and suicide rates.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2077351/

SOME MORAL REASONS FOR SHARING SOCIETY VIA THANKSGIVING DINNERS:

https://www.brainmdhealth.com/blog/4-ways-to-boost-your-serotonin/

As much as 95 percent of the serotonin in your body is produced in your gut, so strategies designed to optimize gut production of serotonin could certainly go a long way toward optimizing your mental health. Make sure you are taking a quality probiotic, properly hydrating, and eating a brain-healthy diet.

There are two ways that food can increase serotonin levels. Foods high in simple carbohydrates, such as pastas, potatoes, bread, pastries, pretzels, and popcorn, increase insulin levels and allow more tryptophan (the natural amino acid building block for serotonin) to enter the brain, where it is converted to serotonin.The calming effect of serotonin can often be felt in thirty minutes or less by eating these foods. This may be one of the reasons simple carbohydrates are so addictive. 

They can be used to make you feel happy, but also cause high blood sugar levels that over time are associated with brain atrophy and dementia. I particularly like complex carbohydrates, such as sweet potatoes, apples, blueberries, carrots, and garbanzo beans, as a healthier way to boost serotonin. Brain serotonin levels can also be raised by eating foods rich in L-tryptophan, such as chicken, turkey, salmon, beef, nut butter, eggs, and green peas. Many people unknowingly trigger cognitive inflexibility or mood problems by eating diets that are low in L-tryptophan.  

They don’t call it comfort food for nothing, and with enough serotonin and proper opportunity, people naturally love to comfort each other.  This is good for everyone.

SEROTONIN AND ITS AGONISTS (ahem)

Sometimes I wish I’d taken organic chemistry back there somewhere.  I wish that for about three minutes.  Then I get busy to try to figure out this stuff without tinkertoy diagrams of what’s connected to what.  The main interacting three I have trouble figuring out are serotonin, dopamine and epinephrine/norepinephrine.  The figure above means nothing to me so far.   I don't think it's a VENN diagram.  I do know that the three are monoamines.  Thus:  "Monoamines are any of a class of compounds derived from ammonia by replacement of one or more hydrogen atoms with organic groups." "Organic chemistry involves the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms."  This is why smart alec college students taking organic chemistry refer to their parents as "carbon units."

I’ll use the rest of this post on serotonin and put the other two off to the future.  I’ll cherry pick some characteristics, but they are much complicated by the context, because what an increase or decrease “does” depends on what all the other molecules are doing and how much of them is present.  At animal control we knew that an out-of-control horse that had to be darted with tranquilizer would react one way before it was really full of adrenaline, and the opposite way if it had been thoroughly terrified and driven.  Making the judgment on the state of a horse is no easier than making the same judgement about a street person on the rampage.  The consequences can be fatal.  So sometimes "control" means just "give it time and space to calm down."  (Tell the cops.)

Serotonin is one of the molecules that make the synapses between neurons work. 

Serotonin is chemically derived from tryptophan and is primarily found in the guts, platelets (the little blood cell entities that control clotting) and and the brains and spines of animals, including humans. It is popularly thought to be a contributor to feelings of well-being and happiness. 

Approximately 90% of the human body’s total serotonin is located in the epithelial (skin)-derived cells that line the GI tract, where the molecule regulates intestinal movements.   If it detects toxins and sometimes other dangers, it empties the gut fast.  These interact with -- but do not have the same origin as -- the enteric nerve cell network embedded in the gut walls that connects to the autonomic nervous pathways. These include the regulation of mood, appetite, and sleep.  Infant stuff: eat, sleep, cry, babble, the foundation of everything else.

It is claimed that serotonin has some kind of interaction with the social order -- that it keeps subordinates from running away while encourages flight in isolates and alphas.  Alpha male macaque monkeys have twice the level of serotonin in the brain than that found in subordinate males and females. Dominance and high levels of cerebro-serotonon levels seem to go hand in hand.  But not in dominant females.  No one knows  why.  

The vagus nerve (a big part of the enteric autonomic nerve system) sends information directly from the gut to the brain, but if it is cut, the guts go on working.  No one knows what this means, but it seems like a good thing.

Molecular action in the brain (and in the rest of the body) is a matter of emitting and receiving.  The number and willingness of receivers has as much to do with what happens as does the amount and timing of the emissions.  For instance, this ominous sentence:  “In humans, levels of 5-HT_1A receptor activation in the brain show negative correlation with aggression, and a mutation in the gene that codes for the 5-HT_2A receptor may double the risk of suicide for those with that genotype.”  In ordinary English, I take this to mean that if one kind of serotonin receivers are taking in the hormone, the person will calm down, but if another kind of receptor is mutated (no indication whether that would mean taking in more or less) then the withdrawal will become aggression turned against the self or even the ultimate withdrawal of suicide, depending upon how you interpret the act and its circumstantial causes.  Suicide can be lashing out as well as simple departure. 

psilocybin mushrooms

“The psychedelic drugs psilocin/psilocybin, DMT, mescaline, phencyclidine and LSD are agonists, primarily at 5HT_2A/2C receptors. . . .  ⁽Agonist: A substance that acts like another substance and therefore stimulates an action. Agonist is the opposite of antagonist.  Antagonists and agonists are key players in the chemistry of the human body and in pharmacology.”)  So the psychedelic molecules are not primary substances, but intensify the main hormones by the action of “agonists” or allies at the receptors. 

“The empathogen-entactogen MDMA releases serotonin from synaptic vesicles of neurons.”  Once again, this is the ground of controversy.  The effect of the popular drug seems to be peace, harmony, sympathy and a kind of hypnotic susceptibility to suggestion.  But some object that patients will resist anything called an “empathogen” because they won’t connect it to “empathy” but rather to “pathology.”  Maybe since the effect is sort of beatific, they would accept the term “entheogen,” meaning a drug that connects one to God.  What’s in a name?  Opinion.

And then there’s the idea that maybe the therapist should be the one to take a bit of this in order to better to respond to his or her clients, remaining calm though horrific narratives.  But what if the alpha therapist taking serotonin releasers loses his place in the pecking order and flees the room?  Should all therapists be female (esp. if they are macque monkeys) so they will not be susceptible to this effect?  What if the effect on the client is to over-empower him or her?  Therapists are not exactly safe in there alone with someone unstable.  Some of them have an alarm buzzer that rings to bring help, like the ones at the bank teller wickets in case of a holdup.

All this stuff (meaning molecules) is interactive, partly produced by the body and affected by emotion (yes, even “empathic” emotion from someone else’s experience) as well as present in such unsuspected “health food” sources as St. John’s Wort and ginseng.  It’s not impossible for interactions to trigger “serotonin overload” which includes all the basic generalized stress symptoms like confusion, agitation or restlessness, dilated pupils, headache, changes in blood pressure and/or temperature, nausea and/or vomiting, diarrhea, rapid heart rate, tremor, loss of muscle coordination or twitching muscles, shivering and goose bumps, heavy sweating.  In short, it would be tough to tell whether the victim were suffering from alcohol poisoning, electric shock or Ebola unless there were clues in the situation. 

The Borgias

My better judgment being undermined due to a shortage of streaming BBC Masterpiece Theatre series, I’ve been watching “The Borgias.”   Since the terms of drama are protagonist and antagonist, It could be called “the story of Pope Serotonin,” all about pecking order, kings as "agonists", the Vatican as an enteric nerve/mucous membrane digester of strategy, and whether it would be better to survive through retreat or by empathogens that really ARE pathological.  All those toxic chemicals sneaking around in food and drink!  The essentials of Communion reverting to carnivory and agony!  The longing for MDMA becoming mammary, for the women are not so much the victims of serotonin pecking order and are often soothers.

A Borg, surely a Puritan

This is all pretty imaginary, which is a precursor of science, but not science until it’s tested and the causal links are found.  Whether it is sparing us from Borgians or Borgs is a different question.  But image is an agonist for inspiration.