It’s associated with addiction as well, and brain deficiency in dopamine areas with parkinson’s, schizophrenia and even possibly ADHD. Almost as much as serotonin, this is a very central brain system. High levels of dopamine are also associated with psychosis, and low levels anhedonia (Unable to enjoy anything) and depression, so having just the right level is very important indeed.

L-tyrosine is what dopamine is made from. So eating foods rich in L-tyrosine, and b vitamins (b vitamins are used to process all neurotransmitters), or those things as a supplement will help keep your dopamine levels up, if they are low.

Good thing, there are many natural food sources of tyrosine. It is found in most animal and vegetable sources. Here are the foods high in tyrosine:

• Meat sources including fish (which is quite high in it), chicken, and pork
• Whole grains, wheat, and oats.
• Dairy products such as milk, cheese and yogurt.
• Fruits such as avocados and bananas.
• Legumes, beans and nuts such as almond, lima beans, sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds.

If you are pre- and post- loading (supplementing with tyrosine) for stimulant drug use, one should be aware of a few things. Firstly, if your doing it for MDMA, excess dopamine before use makes the drug more neurotoxic - So my advice is leave the tyrosine until after you’ve done with your pills for the weekend.

Secondly with traditional stimulants, such as amphetamine, or cocaine, excess dopamine can cause psychosis. You will be safer to only supplement in a break, again, after you have used, rather than before hand - so that you don’t drive your dopamine overboard and increase your risks of psychosis (After all the point is to help your health!). And if you feel anhedonistic and have low motivation between uses, you may need the supplementation in those times.

And of course, one should be careful of addiction with dopamine releasers, as we can see with everything including food, sex, cigarettes & amphetamine. Just be responsible, hey? And for a rough breakdown of what the common drugs do to dopamine: Cigarettes slow it’s breakdown, cocaine keeps more of it in the brain cell so it cant be broken down, and amphetamine and MDMA cause large amounts to be released.

Many people with depression, or lack of motivation and pleasure often consider tyrosine supplementation and anti-depressants that effect dopamine (St Johns Wort is an example of a natural one that effects both serotonin and dopamine, and by contrast Prozac only effects serotonin). Often the effectiveness of an anti-depression treatment depends on what is actually missing from the individual, so its a solution to think about for these problems. People interested in nootropics often alter their dopamine levels too, via drugs like Selegine or tyrosine supplementation, for both concentration/cognition, and motivation.

Everyone should know about the main neurotransmitters, I believe, because its your body and your mind, just like people watch their food for health for the body, they should watch their food for health for their mind. And people who use drugs need to know about them even more than that, to keep their mind and body healthy and recharged.