Become a member of Allies in Recovery and we’ll teach you how to intervene, communicate and guide your loved one toward treatment.Become a member of Allies in Recovery today.

Dopamine, Addiction, and the Brain: Understanding the Science Can Help Us Change

Photo credit: Youtube

The research has taken three quarters of a century (and counting). But the findings are truly remarkable: pain and pleasure are naturally balanced in a healthy brain. Substances can drastically disrupt that balance, however. In the effort to restore it, our brains go into overdrive. Fortunately, we can help it along—and help ourselves at the same time.

Dr. Anna Lembke is a Stanford professor of psychiatry and behavioral science. She was also one of the first experts to sound the alarm about the opioid epidemic and the over-prescribing of opioid medications. These days, she dedicates her public events to explaining the neurochemistry of addiction.

Lembke is a gifted explainer. If you’re like me, you’ve probably heard the terms—stimulants, dopamine, neurotransmitters, pleasure centers—without being able to put the pieces together into a solid understanding of what’s going on up there when I eat that chocolate. Or take that pill, or even stare too long at my phone. In these 13 minutes, Lembke makes it clear and simple.

Also fascinating. Who knew that dopamine, a chemical produced in the brain, was “the final common pathway” for all pleasure and rewards? Who knew that pleasure and pain were handled by exactly the same part of the brain, or that the brain worked tirelessly to keep them in balance?

That effort is where addiction makes its entrance. In the modern world, we bombard our system with things that stimulate dopamine production—sugar, chocolate, sex, coke, opioids. Each and every time, our brain flies into action to counter that stimulus, or in Lembke’s terms, to add weight on the pain side of the see-saw. Our brain only stops when we do.

The problem? Our brains go too far, tipping the balance towards pain. The more we reach for pleasure stimulants, the more our brains generate, and cling to, a pain response. Worst of all, that pain is ultimately stronger and longer lasting than any pleasure inputs we can reach for. As this wild see-sawing goes on, we get stranded in a “dopamine deficient state.” We come to need drugs not to feel pleasure, but merely to dampen the debilitating pain produced within ourselves. That, says Lembke, is addiction.

Fortunately, when we abstain, our brains eventually do return to balance. The cravings of withdrawal (that state of low-dopamine misery) pass. The final part of this absorbing talk is all about what to do with this knowledge, and Lembke’s just as compelling on these points as she is in describing the biochemistry. Have a listen. I think you’ll find her points both satisfying and useful.

Loading

Related Posts from "Sanctuary"

When Song, Faith, and Joy are Enough

The full name of the song is “Ndikhokhele Bawo,” which means “Lead me, Father” in Xhosa. These South African youths, assembled in their school’s courtyard, transform their place of learning into a concert hall with nothing more than the power of their voices. But it’s their spirit of joy and solidarity that lifts the beautiful into the realm of the sublime.

Learning About Depression. And Fighting Back.

Forty percent of Americans will suffer a major depressive episode at some point in their lives. Five percent of the world’s population is suffering from it at any given time. It’s a disease that’s too often misunderstood—when it’s not overlooked entirely. Recovery writer Annie Highwater offers this primer on the many forms depression can take, and the variety of paths available for dealing with it.

IFS: Embracing and Listening to Our Multiple Selves

“Most of the world’s problems arise from a misunderstanding about parts and burdens,” Dr. Richard Schwartz asserts. In IFS, which he founded, the “parts” are our multiple internal selves, and the burdens are the trauma and wounds they try to manage on our behalf. The simple but radical proposition of IFS is that these multiple selves arise for good reasons and have a lot to offer—if we can help them change with the seasons of our lives.

Dr. Gabor Maté: The Power of Addiction, the Addiction to Power

Across four decades of work on issues of trauma, addiction, childhood development, stress, and illness, Dr. Gabor Maté has become an internationally recognized thinker, author, and public speaker. But his brilliance is only one side of the coin. The other side, evident in all his remarks, is profound compassion. In this TED talk, both qualities are on full display.

Using ChatGPT To Fight Depression: Some Creative Ideas

ChatGPT is not a living mind, let alone a therapist. It is, however, proving to be an immensely useful online assistant for people across the world. Little wonder that professionals and others are finding ways to apply its powers of information gathering and synthesis to the challenge of living with depression. This article offers one emotion expert’s tips on how ChatGPT and related technology might be able to shoulder a bit of that burden.

Dating Someone With Depression: A Brief Guide

More than one quarter of U.S. adults report having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives. The disease makes life challenging in all kinds of ways, and relationships are no exception. For partners of those suffering depression, the inability to “fix” the other’s condition can be difficult and frustrating. But even though we can’t cure our partners’ depression, we can learn skills that strengthen our relationships and make them more fulfilling for both parties.

Out of the Mouths of Babes (and Comedians)

Comedian DJ Pryor says that he’s always spoken to his children (even when they were toddlers) as if they could understand his every word. The approach seems to be working with 15-month-old Kingston, who holds detailed conversations with his dad. Sure, it’s in a language known only to the two of them, but that hasn’t stopped the world from being charmed.

“I’m In Recovery, But I’m Not Recovered.” Jamie Lee Curtis Opens Up About Her Struggle With Opioids

“To call yourself an alcoholic or a drug addict is a badge of honor,” the actress says. Jamie Lee Curtis is one of Hollywood’s most well-known actresses, but for years she kept her struggle with opioid use a secret. In this brief but extremely candid interview, she describes her journey from heavy use to recovery, and the turning points that she credits with saving her life.

“Lipstick and Cocaine”: In Kaz Hawkins’ Wrenching Song, Love Proves Stronger Than Both Hate and Addiction

“You can do this, you can do this. Just one more fight.” Northern Irish singer Kaz Hawkins had lived a long time with abuse when her then-partner slit her throat and left her for dead. “Lipstick and Cocaine,” the song she wrote in the aftermath of the incident, pulls no punches. And that makes the tale of survival and recovery it sketches all the more powering.

Combatting That Morning Dread: Brené Brown on Courage, Vulnerability, Empathy and Self-Worth

“Don’t walk through the world looking for evidence that you don’t belong, because you’ll always find it.” Professor Brené Brown delivers a powerful statement about the nature of courage, and how it can’t exist without an embrace of uncertainty and vulnerability. At the same time, she makes a passionate case for self-affirmation. Her message is one of challenge, promise, and hope.