In the book Dopamine Nation, Anna Lemke explores new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain. The expert also shows how the population lives in an era of unprecedented access to high rewards and high dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, games, text messaging, relationship apps and social networking.
At the end of the book, the author lists ten reflections on the problem of addiction:
1) The ceaseless pursuit of pleasure leads to suffering;
two) recovery begins with abstinence;
3) Abstinence resets the brain’s gratification circuitry and with it the ability to experience pleasure in the simplest of pleasures;
4) Commitment creates a distance (both literal and metaphorical) between desire and consumption;
5) Drugs can restore homeostasis (the body’s ability to keep the body in balance), but remember what we lose when we eliminate our condition with drugs;
6) Tilting a little on the side of suffering returns our balance to the side of joy;
7) One must be careful not to become dependent on suffering;
8th) Radical Honesty raises awareness, enhances intimacy, and encourages a generous mindset;
9) Shame confirms that we belong to the human tribe; It is
10) Instead of running from the world, we can find escape by immersing ourselves in it.
Dopamine Nation Book | Photo: Disclosure
“Addiction can become a cause of pain”
In an article published in Issue 152 of the magazine west, writes Ana Paula Henkel on the subject. “DR. Lembke is the medical director of medicine at Stanford University and director of the Dual Diagnosis Clinic at Stanford Addiction Medicine. “E reports that his patients struggling with substance abuse often believe their addiction is caused by depression, anxiety, and insomnia, but she claims that often the opposite is true: addictions can become the cause of pain not the relief.”
This explanation is plausible because, among other things, the behavior triggers an initial dopamine response that floods the brain with pleasure. However, when dopamine wears off, people often feel worse than before: “They start taking the drug to feel better or to feel less pain,” Lembke notes. “Over time, this drug becomes less and less effective with repeated exposure. But they are unable to stop because if they don’t use, they have a dopamine deficit.”
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that sends signals from one neuron to another and is probably the most important neurotransmitter in our experience of pleasure, motivation, and reward. Thus, dopamine is the final common pathway to all pleasurable, exhilarating, and rewarding experiences. The smartphone, for example, is the modern hypodermic needle that delivers 24/7 digital dopamine to a connected generation.