Our brains are hardwired to seek pleasure and avoid pain and that’s what’s been keeping us alive. However, that's a problem in this day and age where we have an overabundance of highly potent and reinforcing drugs at the tip of a finger. As a result, there’s been a significant increase in the percentage of anxiety, depression, and other psychiatric problems as we are constantly seeking pleasure.

In this episode, we’ll learn what’s happening in our neurobiology as we seek comfort in a dopamine-rewarding behavior as well as what happens when we learn to tolerate some discomfort. Understanding how our brains work will be extremely beneficial as we consider our personal development and relationships.

Anna Lembke, MD, is a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. A clinician scholar, she has published more than a hundred peer-reviewed papers and she sits on the board of several state and national addiction-focused organizations. Her new book, Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence explores how to moderate compulsive overconsumption in a dopamine overloaded world.

Check out the transcript of this episode on Dr. Jessica Higgin's website.

In this episode

5:04 Understanding how we develop tendencies for seeking pleasure and overconsumption.

16:06 How social media, other technology, and even food contribute to these tendencies.

18:48 Our propensity to notice the behavior.

24:34 How to start a healthy balance between pain and pleasure.

30:15 Some real-life examples of tolerating the discomfort and its benefits.

Mentioned

Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (book) (*Amazon affiliate link)

Stanford marshmallow experiment

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Website annalembke.com

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