Hi there, I needed help writing an assignment. For a Nursing course of Psychiatr

Hi there, I needed help writing an assignment. For a Nursing course of Psychiatric for nurse practitioners. Masters level. I have to reply to this posting by classmate, where I agree or disagree; from reading I agree with this posting. Responses should be a minimum of 250 words, scholarly written, APA formatted, and referenced. A minimum of 2 references are required past 10-years. Please include DIO with references.
A patient is diagnosed with major depressive disorder with the most prominent features of apathy, anhedonia, and isolation. Which neurotransmitter is associated with the symptoms?
A. Serotonin
B. Gamma-aminobenzoic acid (GABA)
C. Dopamine
D. Cannabinoids (Zakhari, 2021, p. 74
To answer this question correctly, it is essential to understand one what is being asked, two, the symptoms of depression being presented— apathy, anhedonia and isolation, and three, neurotransmitters.
Anhedonia is illustrated by a markedly reduced interest or enjoyment in all or nearly all activities. Common in depression, anhedonia is also seen in schizophrenia, substance dependence, posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, autism, and neurodegenerative disorders (Serretti, 2023).
Apathy is a loss of motivation leading to reduced goal-directed behavior that considerably impacts quality of life and has been connected to numerous neurological conditions. Concerning the above question, apathy is considered a component of anhedonia associated with depression. Motivated behavior is characterized by active efforts to obtain rewards— regulated through the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway. Apathy is also associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and should not be ignored (Baik, 2020; Le Heron et al., 2018).
Depression is often associated with the neurotransmitter serotonin, also called 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), produced in the central nervous system (CNS). Serotonin is essential for happiness, memory, reward, attention, anger, and sleep and is often related to depression. Serotonin is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that balances out the excessive excitatory effects of other neurotransmitters. Dopamine is also found in the CNS. However, dopamine is an excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter with various effects. Primarily associated with feelings of pleasure, it is also involved in motivation, sleep, attention, and memory, similar to serotonin, and more often associated with schizophrenia and Parkinson’s rather than depression.
Depression is not a dysfunction of a few specific brain regions but rather a complicated web disorder. Dopamine has been extensively studied for its role in regulating anhedonia’s myriad aspects. However, some evidence does point to serotonin, GABA, epinephrine, and acetylcholine, which are also related to the reward system induction of pleasure and motivation (Serretti, 2023), signifying that this answer to this question may not be as black-and-white as we once thought it w