The Embodiment Coaching Podcast

664. Kinky Dopamine Secrets: The Neuroscience of Addiction, Pain and Pleasure - with Dr Anna Lembke

Jan 7, 2025
Dr. Anna Lembke, a Stanford psychiatry professor and expert on addiction, delves into the intricate dance between pleasure and pain. She reveals how modern life's dopamine overload disrupts our brain's reward system. Exploring the psychology behind kink and addiction, she discusses why some seek painful experiences and the vulnerability linked to genetics and trauma. Lembke emphasizes the importance of social connections in recovery, offers practical advice on avoiding dopamine traps, and shares insights on creating healthier environments for community and healing.
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INSIGHT

Dopamine Overload Creates A Deficit

  • Modern abundance floods the brain with dopamine at a tempo it wasn't evolved for, causing downregulation and a dopamine deficit state.
  • That deficit produces craving, low mood, restlessness and makes pursuit of pleasure self-defeating.
INSIGHT

Pleasure And Pain Share Brain Circuits

  • Pain and pleasure activate overlapping brain circuits and act like opposite sides of a balance that the brain maintains.
  • Many activities combine pain and pleasure, explaining why some people seek 'hard' practices as rewarding.
ADVICE

Earn Your Dopamine Through Effort

  • Prefer activities that require effort first, like exercise, because you earn modest endogenous neurotransmitter boosts.
  • Pay upfront with work so you avoid driving your brain into a deficit from easy exogenous hits.
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