Dr. Juan Carlos Marvizón, (pseudonym Hermes Solenzol) is a retired neuroscientist and expert in pain physiology, as well as a former member of the UCLA Brain Research Institute. He is also an author of various... romance books, and has a blog about various topics including science, philosophy, and more.

In this episode, Dr. Solenzol and I talk about some of the mistakes and oversimplifications made by Dr. Andrew Huberman and Dr. Anna Lembke. We also talk about all things dopamine, including its role in pleasure, its role in motivation/wanting, the neurobiology of the "dopamine reward pathway," the pleasure-pain balance being "bullshit," habituation, addiction, compulsive behavior, drugs' interactions with the brain, pornography, gambling, and more.

0:00 Intro

0:47 How Dr. Huberman & Dr. Lembke Are Wrong About Dopamine

5:13 Can Non-Drug Stimuli (e.g. Behavior) Be Addictive?

9:54 Does Dopamine Cause Pleasure? Or Just Desire?

15:31 The Neurobiology of the Dopamine (Mesolimbic) Reward Pathway

17:53 How Drugs Interact With Dopamine Release & the Brain

19:13 A Simpler Explanation of Dopamine, the Reward Pathway, & Drug Interactions With the Brain (Trying to Dispel Confusion)

22:20 Dopamine Peaks & Baselines

24:23 What Does Dopamine Do, and What Does It Make Us Feel?

28:03 Does Dopamine Make Us Desire & Crave?

29:04 Dopamine Receptors (Very Important for Understanding Dopamine & Its Effects)

37:01 Dopamine Is the Molecule of Change

37:46 The Neurobiology of Addiction

46:56 Compulsive Behaviors; Too Much Dopamine

50:18 Dr. Huberman is Wrong: Supplementing L-Tyrosine is Useless for Dopamine

52:02 L-Dopa Supplementation, Problems With L-Dopa

56:06 Neurobiological & Other Differences Between Addiction & Compulsion

1:02:49 There Is No Such Thing As Too Much Pleasure

1:04:29 Sources of Craving

1:08:58 Why Some People Seek Pain

1:11:51 What's Behind Compulsive Gambling?

1:14:27 Why Is Pornography More Compulsive Than Sex?

1:17:25 "The Pleasure-Pain Balance is Bullshit"

1:22:56 Does "High-Dopamine" Behavior Lead to Less Pleasure?

1:30:29 Does Habituation Affect All Pleasure, or Is It Just Local?

1:32:55 Combatting Habituation With Mindfulness

1:35:16 How Can We Maximize Reward and Minimize the Cost?

1:41:52 How Do We Enjoy Lots of Pleasure While Avoid Habituation, Tolerance, & Other Dark Sides of Pleasure?

1:45:10 A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind

1:48:48 Where to Find Dr. Solenzol

FIND DR. SOLENZOL

Dr. Solenzol's blog – https://www.hermessolenzol.com/en

Dr. Solenzol's Medium – https://medium.com/@hermessolenzol

Dr. Solenzol's Substack – https://scienceandmeaning.substack.com/

DR. SOLENZOL'S BOOKS

Games of Love and Kink – https://amzn.to/47DhgV9

Juegos de amor y dolor – https://amzn.to/4mwbBVI

Cecilia desencadenada – https://amzn.to/45x0qGk

Amores Imposibles – https://amzn.to/45MhO8L

La tribu de Cecilia – https://amzn.to/4fJ31A8

Para volverte loca – https://amzn.to/45KDi62

BOOKS MENTIONED

Anna Lembke's "Dopamine Nation" – https://amzn.to/45BgsgQ

David Linden's "The Compass of Pleasure" – https://amzn.to/4lxSXeB

Daniel Lieberman's "The Molecule of More" – https://amzn.to/3Ve4Z22

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5X5PgX0qe8M