Dopamine Nation
Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence
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4.5 • 497 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES and LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER
“Brilliant . . . riveting, scary, cogent, and cleverly argued.”—Beth Macy, author of Dopesick,
as heard on Fresh Air
This book is about pleasure. It’s also about pain. Most important, it’s about how to find the delicate balance between the two, and why now more than ever finding balance is essential. We’re living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting . . . The increased numbers, variety, and potency is staggering. The smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine 24/7 for a wired generation. As such we’ve all become vulnerable to compulsive overconsumption.
In Dopamine Nation, Dr. Anna Lembke, psychiatrist and author, explores the exciting new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain . . . and what to do about it. Condensing complex neuroscience into easy-to-understand metaphors, Lembke illustrates how finding contentment and connectedness means keeping dopamine in check. The lived experiences of her patients are the gripping fabric of her narrative. Their riveting stories of suffering and redemption give us all hope for managing our consumption and transforming our lives. In essence, Dopamine Nation shows that the secret to finding balance is combining the science of desire with the wisdom of recovery.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Finding a balance between pain and pleasure is "essential for a life well lived," writes psychiatrist Lembke (Drug Dealer MD) in this eye-opening survey on pleasure-seeking and addiction. Drawing on her experiences treating patients with various addictions, Lembke explains how the human brain's pleasure center works and the effects of feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine, and suggests the brain is "perfectly adapted to a world of scarcity." However, the modern world is one marked by an "overwhelming abundance" ("The smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle," she writes, "delivering digital dopamine 24/7") and, as such, those who struggle with addiction "have evolved a wisdom perfectly suited to the age we live in now." To break the cycle of addiction, Lembke recommends beginning with periods of abstinence and reminds readers that chasing pleasure and avoiding suffering leads, in the long run, to more pain. "We must be willing to move forward," she writes, "despite being uncertain of what lies ahead." Readers looking for balance will return to Lembke's informative and fascinating guidance.
Customer Reviews
Chasing A Quick Fix
Dr. Anna Lembke uses deeply personal and real patient experiences to illustrate in vivid language the current state of our dopamine addiction. Like Oliver Sacks, she shows us the world of our patients in a way we can easily see ourselves caught up in. Unlike Sacks, Lembke’s patients suffer from something we all most certainly fight against daily. The allure of the easy dopamine fix.
Modernity has given us a lot of conveniences. A lot of them make our lives more comfortable, efficient, and productive. Modernity has also given us the convenience of easy consumption of, well, everything. That ease of access allows us to feed our dopamine need without end. What’s worse is that capitalism is the nitro injection that takes overconsumption to epic levels. We are constantly seeking an escape in numerous forms.
The epidemic of dopamine addiction has been exasperated by a new entry. Since the internet was introduced, digital dopamine fixes have been in the palm of our hands. What is worse is that some of the smartest among us are being employed to keep us in the grips of digital addiction instead of solving things cancer. All of this reminds me of Blaise Pascal’s observation, "All human evil comes from a single cause: man's inability to sit still in a room."
Lembke combines the science of dopamine addiction with the kind of anecdotes and nomenclature that we can all understand. You can’t leave this without seeing where the pull of a dopamine fix creeps into every corner of your own life. Maybe we all need a little more boredom and detoxing on a regular basis. Lembke recommends a step further. Actively leaning into the boredom and pain to build the muscles that have atrophied away in our overindulgent culture.
Insightful
Explains living in the digital age and our universal human nature with elegant simplicity. Easy to read. This is a very useful book. (Like an owners manual for the 21 st century human.)
Well written & informative
I learned so much, gained new perspectives, and enjoyed every moment of it. I loved the research & literature within.