Dopamine is a type of neurotransmitter. Your body makes it, and your nervous system uses it to send messages between nerve cells. That’s why it’s sometimes called a chemical messenger.

Dopamine plays a role in how we feel pleasure. It’s a big part of our unique human ability to think and plan. It helps us strive, focus, and find things interesting. It’s hard to pinpoint a single cause of most mental health disorders and challenges. But they’re often linked to too much or too little dopamine in different parts of the brain.