The Neurodevelopment of the Brain

Introduction

The brain is an incredibly fascinating phenomenon. It is comprised of various parts that consist of neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine) just to name a few. Serotonin’s chemical function is to carry messages between nerve cells in the brain and throughout your body. Serotonin plays a key role in such body functions as mood, sleep, digestion, nausea, wound healing, bone health, blood clotting, and sexual desire, in essence, sends signals of the state of well-being. The dopamine neurotransmitter sends signals of pleasure or euphoria to the nerve cells that your body makes. Norepinephrine sends chemicals of adrenaline; it is also known as the fight or flight neurotransmitter. It increases the breathing rate, relaxes the intestinal muscles, increases the heart rate, and increases the blood sugar levels. As a neurotransmitter in your brain and spinal cord, it increases alertness, arousal, and attention for the individual to protect themselves from harm. These three neurotransmitters are in the prefrontal lobe of the brain and this area of the brain is also known as the pleasure pathway. The pleasure pathway is a form of the limbic part of the Brain that is responsible for behaviors.

There are other parts of the brain that have a major responsibility like the occipital lobe which is where the motor functioning of an individual occurs. The way a person speaks, and the gait of the individual is regulated in this portion of the brain. The amygdala is a small part of your brain, but it has a big job. It is a major processing center for emotions. It also links your emotions to many other brain abilities, especially memories, learning, and your senses. When it does not work as it should, it can cause or contribute to disruptive feelings and symptoms.

The autonomic nervous system is a component of the peripheral nervous system that regulates involuntary physiologic processes including heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, digestion, and sexual arousal. It contains three anatomically distinct divisions: sympathetic, parasympathetic, and enteric (Cacioppo, & Berntson, 2011).

The brain functions systematically the same for everyone, but there are some factors that contribute to the way individual behaviors vary from race to race. There are cultural factors that weigh in on an individual’s behavior based on values, thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs. As far as Black and African American community and Mental Health go overall, mental health conditions occur in Black and African American (B/AA) people in America at about the same or less frequency than in White Americans. However, the historically Black and African American experience in America has and continues to be characterized by trauma and violence more often than for their White counterparts and impacts the emotional and mental health of both youth and adults.

Historical dehumanization, oppression, and violence against Black and African American people has evolved into present-day racism - structural, institutional, and individual – and cultivates a uniquely mistrustful and less affluent community experience, characterized by a myriad of disparities including inadequate access to and delivery of care in the health system. Processing and dealing with layers of individual trauma on top of new mass traumas from COVID-19 (uncertainty, isolation, grief from financial or human losses), police brutality and its fetishization in news media, and divisive political rhetoric adds compounding layers of complexity for individuals to responsibly manage.

Help-seeking behavior is affected by mistrust of the medical system and often begins with faith-based outreach. However, MHA screening data shows that Black and African American people who screen positive for depression self-identify as planning to seek help at higher rates than the general population say they will seek help. Unfortunately, Black and African American providers, who are known to give more appropriate and effective care to Black and African American help-seekers, make up a very small portion of the behavioral health provider workforce (see treatment statistics below). Because of these factors and more, Black and African American people are more likely to experience chronic and persistent, rather than episodic, mental health conditions. Yet, hope for recovery should remain, as light is shed on these issues - and the public holds accountable policymakers and health systems to evolve better systems that eliminate inequities in mental health services.