![]() Repeated exposure to the same or similar stimuli ultimately creates a chronic dopamine-deficit state, wherein we're less able to experience pleasure. The brain responds to this increase by decreasing dopamine transmission - not just back down to its natural baseline rate, but below that baseline. Feel-good substances and behaviors increase dopamine release in the brain's reward pathways. I wanted to tell readers what I'd learned from patients and from neuroscience about how to tackle compulsive overconsumption. "If you're not addicted yet, it's coming soon to a website near you," Lembke joked when I talked to her about the message of Dopamine Nation, which was published in August. Today, the addictive substance of choice, whether we realize it or not, is often the internet and social media channels, according to Lembke, MD. Dopamine Nation explains how living in a modern society, affluent beyond comparison by evolutionary standards, has rendered us all vulnerable to dopamine-mediated addiction. Nature designed our brains to feel pleasure when these experiences happen because they increase our odds of survival and of procreation.īut the days when our species dwelled in caves and struggled for survival are long gone. The curious title of Stanford psychiatrist Anna Lembke's book, Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, pays tribute to the crucial and often destructive role that dopamine plays in modern society.ĭopamine, the main chemical involved in addiction, is secreted from certain nerve tracts in the brain when we engage in a rewarding experience such as finding food, clothing, shelter or a sexual mate.
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