Angela

Thank you for your question and welcome to ADHDCentral.com.

According to the ISCID encyclopedia:

"Dopamine's role in pleasure and motivation is critical. It is heavily associated with the pleasure system in the brain, and its continued release provides feelings of enjoyment and reinforces the activities that provide those feelings. Food, sex, and other naturally-rewarding experiences release dopamine; in addition, neutral stimuli associated with pleasure (for instance, sexual fetishes) and certain drugs also release dopamine. Cocaine and amphetamines in particular seem directly related to dopamine release, and in theories of addiction have been given the reputation of pathologically altering dopamine pathways in addicted people.

Dopamine is not, however simply the "reward chemical" in the brain; this is far too simplistic an explanation. Dopamine is also released when negative stimuli are encountered, leading one to wonder just how close pleasure and pain truly are. It also works in previously-unpredicted ways toward pleasure; for instance, when a reward is greater than anticipated, the dopaminergic neurons associated fire more often, with a commensurately lower than anticipated reward, they fire less. For this reason, some researchers think it may be related to desire rather than pleasure. Drugs like antipsychotics that inhibit dopamine activity reduce people's desire for pleasure, but don't make that pleasure less intense."

I hope this helps.

Eileen