The Braverman test is supposed to be able to tell you two things.
1 – What neurotransmitters are dominant in your brain
2 – What neurotransmitters are deficient in your brain
I first heard about this on a podcast. It was a passing reference and when I heard about it I was immediately interested. This could give me a bit more direction in figuring things out with my brain. So I immediately googled this and did the test. It takes about 20-30 minutes. You can take it here.
It seems pretty subjective and not super scientific, but again I think it’s nice to at least have some direction. I’m not taking this as a diagnosis or anything serious and neither should you. (more on this later)
Braverman Test Part 1 – Dominant Nature:
According to the test, part 1 is looking at what your dominant ‘nature’ is. If you have one score that’s 35 or higher then that is considered your dominant nature. I don’t have any that are that high, so I’m not sure what this means. My first thought is to guess that GABA is my dominant just because it’s highest.
1A – Dopamine: 22
2A – Acetylcholine: 20
3A – GABA: 30
4A – Serotonin: 24
According to the test, GABA dominant is:
“A person with a GABA nature is stable. Almost 50% of the world share this nature, whose hallmarks are consistency, sociability, and concern for others. If you have a GABA nature, you will likely show up every day for work and be there when others need you. When your GABA is in balance, you remain calm when chaos swirls around you. Characteristics of objectivity, levelheadedness, punctuality, practicality, and confidence all come naturally to you. Staying organized is very important to you, and rigid schedules are comforting rather than confining – they eliminate uncertainty and ensure smooth sailing. GABA dominant people tend to gravitate to careers as administrators, accountants, security officers, nurses, medical technicians, air-traffic controllers, news reporters, EMT’s, meeting planners, bus drivers, and homemakers. No matter what the job, the GABA-natured person is the one who tethers the group, who stays focused on the matter at hand, yet usually defers to the majority. You are the consummate team player, deriving pleasure from fulfilling your obligations and taking care of those you love. You are sensible, settled, and not prone to wide swings of emotion or outbursts of anger. You both relish group activities and cherish one-to-one connections. Making others comfortable makes you happy. Marriage is seen as a long-term haven. You probably believe in traditions and institutions, and enjoy your part in making them work, especially at your place of worship. You look forward to holiday gatherings, and planning for them seems more like play than work. You probably like history books and biographies. Collecting memorabilia and creating scrapbooks may provide hours of entertainment. There are times when you feel you’ve had a strong nurturing effect on others, such as after hosting a holiday dinner.”
I guess there are glimpses of me in there, but that’s not really spot on. So maybe it really needs to be 35+ score to really match up. In fact, I read through the other dominant descriptions and none of them really fully describe me. It’s more like I’m a mix of all of them.
So, this part of the test wasn’t super helpful at this point.
Braverman Test Part 2 – Deficiencies:
TLDR results: I have no neurotransmitters.
The test suggest that I basically have a ‘serious’ deficiency in all of them. Maybe that has something to do with why I didn’t go over 35 on any of the sections on part 1?
A Minor Deficiency is a score from 0-5. A Moderate Deficiency a score of 5-10 and a Serious Deficiency is a score of 10-15.
Here are my scores:
1B -Dopamine: 15
2B – Acetylcholine: 17
3B – GABA: 15
4B – Serotonin: 11
Looks like they are all seriously low with Acetylcholine being the lowest.
To some degree this rings true to me. It just seems like nothing is working at full capacity generally. I’m not sure if that really translates to neurotransmitters, but it makes sense to me.
My hunch going into this was that I was deficient in dopamine mostly and maybe also serotonin. In some sense, this has given me less direction than I had coming in! Bummer! That being said, I think I will keep this test in mind and come back to it to take again after I make changes to see if anything changes.
No Neurotransmitters?
Well, If I actually had none I’d probably be dead. So that’s good. However, the thought that I could be ‘deficient’ in all of these major players makes me think of something else:
Could something be blocking me or holding me back here?
I’ve talked about EMDR and Neurofeedback a bit as ways to ‘unblock’ your brain from past traumas or stuck patterns. I’ve even tried them. But this result definitely makes me think back to those and to other possibilities of something causing issues rather than just not having enough l-tyrosine in my diet to metabolize into dopamine, for example.
Something to think about.
Is this test even legit?
I started thinking this when I saw that each of the questions was super subjective and that they categorized them into groups which could definitely influence peoples’ responses. Poking around on the interwebs, I see that there are quite a few people who think this test is total bunk.
However, reading further in some forums I cam across a post by Abelard Lindsay. He’s a famed nootropics citizen-scientist and the creator of the CILTEP stack. Let’s just say that he’s kind of a big deal when it comes to cognitive performance.
Here’s what he said when others were bashing the Braverman test:
“Some people don’t think Braverman is scientific because you can’t dissect human brains after giving the diagnostic tests to determine if the tests reflect brain chemistry and you can’t give the Braverman tests to mice. Anyway, I love the Braverman stuff. Thought it was extremely helpful and helped me better understand the supplement universe and myself.” – Sir Abelard
Well, that’s good enough for me – for now. I will move forward basically assuming that I’m deficient in all of them and see what I can do to help those.
He goes on to mention some supplements that he uses for each neurotransmitter.
“Here are some supplements I usually take to aid the various neuro-transmitter levels:
Dopamine:
L-Phenylalanine
Ginko
Guarana
AcetylCholine:
Acetyl-L-Carnitine
Alpha GPC
Huperzine
Gaba:
GABA
B-Vitamins
L-Glutamine
Serotonin:
St. John’s Wart
Tryptophan”
He also quoted some science from the Economist to back up supplements affecting neurotransmitters:
“Serotonin is another neurotransmitter that is usually deficient in an addicted brain. This probably accounts for the depressive side of withdrawal symptoms (serotonin receptors in the brain are the target of antidepressant drugs such as Prozac). Serotonin is made from an amino acid called tryptophan, which is found in foods such as meat, brown rice, nuts, fish and milk. Philip Cowen, a psychiatrist at Oxford University, has found that reducing the amount of tryptophan in someone’s diet increases depressive symptoms and also that increasing it can induce a more optimistic outlook.
“Anxiety and sleeplessness are common withdrawal symptoms. They happen because many addictive drugs reduce the supply of a chemical called glutamine, a precursor to GABA. One of GABA’s roles is to promote relaxation. (The molecular receptors for GABA are the target of tranquillisers such as Valium.) But glutamine levels can be restored, and production of GABA boosted, by the consumption of an amino acid called N-acetylcysteine (NAC) that is found in nuts and seeds.
“This is not just theory. A controlled study published last year in the American Journal of Psychiatry by Steven LaRowe, of the Medical University of South Carolina, and his colleagues, found that giving NAC to cocaine addicts reduced their desire to use the drug sufficiently for it to be recommended as a treatment. A different study found that NAC reduced the desire to gamble in more than 80% of those addicted to this pastime, compared with 28% of those who were given a placebo.”
Back to the actual test pdf, they recommend the following to boost each neurotransmitter:
Dopamine Boosters
Phenylalanine, Tyrosine, Methionine, Rhodiola, Pyroxidine, B complex, Phosphatidylserine, Ginko Biloba.
Acetylcholine Boosters
Choline (GPC choline), Phosphatidylcholine, Phosphatidylserine, Acetyl-l-carnitine, DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid), Thiamine, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin B12, Taurine, Huperzine-A, Ginko Biloba, Korean Ginseng.
GABA Boosters
Inositol, GABA, Glutamic Acid, Melatonin (at night), Thiamine, Niacinamide, Pyridoxine, Valerian root, Passionflower.
Serotonin Boosters
Calcium, Fish oil, 5-HTP, Magnesium, Melatonin (at night), Passionflower, Pyridoxine, SAM-e, St. John’s Wort, Tryptophan, Zinc.
All this being said, this test comes from this book which I plan to read to get some more info on it and then to proceed in trying some of the above compounds to enhance my brain to be ever more extraordinary!