Dopamine Nation

Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence

De: Dr. Anna Lembke

Narrado por: Dr. Anna Lembke

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES and LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER

“Brilliant . . . riveting, scary, cogent, and cleverly argued.”—Beth Macy, author of Dopesick, as heard on Fresh Air

This book is about pleasure. It’s also about pain. Most important, it’s about how to find the delicate balance between the two, and why now more than ever finding balance is essential. We’re living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting . . . The increased numbers, variety, and potency is staggering. The smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine 24/7 for a wired generation. As such we’ve all become vulnerable to compulsive overconsumption.

In Dopamine Nation, Dr. Anna Lembke, psychiatrist and author, explores the exciting new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain . . . and what to do about it. Condensing complex neuroscience into easy-to-understand metaphors, Lembke illustrates how finding contentment and connectedness means keeping dopamine in check. The lived experiences of her patients are the gripping fabric of her narrative. Their riveting stories of suffering and redemption give us all hope for managing our consumption and transforming our lives. In essence, Dopamine Nation shows that the secret to finding balance is combining the science of desire with the wisdom of recovery.

©2021 Dr. Anna Lembke (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Anna Lembke deeply understands an experience I hear about often in the therapy room at the nexus between our modern addictions and our primal brains. Her stories of guiding people to find a healthy balance between pleasure and pain have the power to transform your life.” (Lori Gottlieb, “Dear Therapist” columnist at The Atlantic, New York Times best-selling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone)

“Just when you thought you knew all you needed to know about the addiction crisis, along comes Dr. Anna Lembke with her second brilliant book on the topic—this one not about a drug but about the most powerful chemical of all: the dopamine that rules the pain and pleasure centers of our minds. In an era of overconsumption and instant gratification, Dopamine Nation explains the personal and societal price of being ruled by the next fix—and how to manage it. No matter what you might find yourself over-indulging in—from the internet to food to work to sex—you’ll find this book riveting, scary, cogent, and cleverly argued. Lembke weaves patient stories with research, in a voice that’s as empathetic as it is clear-eyed.” (Beth Macy, author of Washington Post Best Book of the Year, New York Times Notable Book of 2018, and best seller Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America)

“We all desire a break from our routines and those parts of life that upset us. What if, instead of trying to escape these things, we learn to turn toward them, to reach a peaceful harmony with our selves and the people we share our lives with? Lembke has written a book that radically changes the way we think about mental illness, pleasure, pain, reward, and stress. Turn toward it. You’ll be happy you did.” (Daniel Levitin, New York Times best-selling author of The Organized Mind and Successful Aging)

"Explore[s] the dichotomy between seeking a readily accessible hit of dopamine—from our phones, gambling, or a bag of Fritos—and maintaining healthy, productive, stable lives.” (The New York Times, Inside the Best-Seller List)

Pure bliss

Lady Dr. Lembke is definitely an awesome person. Listening to Dopamine Nation was a ride. Once You've attune to Dr. Lembke's slightly italian capo voice, it's a fluent ride. Very good narration and narrative, I really like story based books, and will tell You a lot about people today, and why it's kind of challenging for people to live in the age of afluence...

Not for the faint of heart!

Good book but be prepared for graphic and disturbing sexual content. Pretty sure I could have done without the endless talk of self pleasuring.
The book makes a ton of good points but perhaps the author forgot that we are not all trained to deal with such graphically disturbed sexual content.

Excellent

A must read (or listen!) Thorough and thought provoking material. The stories recounted throughout we're helpful in creating empathy, and illustrating the points brought about in the book.

lessons of the balance

Instead of running away from the world, we can escape by immersing ourselves in it.

I wanted more

I loved podcast interviews that seemed to focus more on the beginning chapters discussing the pleasure pain balance. I would have loved to hear more examples of healthy forms of ‘pain’.
As a person that lives pretty balanced with no major addiction; drugs, media, food, or otherwise, but wants to forever increase mental health, I wanted more practical YES do this, then steps away from that.

Masterpiece

A common sense guide to dealing with our modern world. Dr. Lembke is clearly focused on making people better without biases towards Rx funding, or catering to a political agenda. She is a leader amongst her peers and someone to aspire towards as a medical professional and researcher. What a powerful book.

Short, worthwhile read

Informative with actionable items and helpful storytelling. I recommend this book for anybody interested in the brain, psychology. Self-improvement, or therapists

Offers great understanding!

I enjoyed the stories and examples of different dopamine hits and the solutions presented just make sense. Now, onto implementing the solutions!

Very interesting.

I never put together the see-saw of pain and pleasure, but it does make sense to me. If you do something that’s pleasurable too much it loses it’s utility. She’s a good reader.

Wonderfully holistic and considerate

This is a very informative book that helps people understand and possibly recognize their own struggles without triggering defensiveness. It is informative, actionable, and inclusive should the reader be open to it.