Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke, MD

Book Review

If you’re interested in psychology or neuroscience, this is a must read!

Special thanks to Dutton Books for sending me this gifted copy.

Dopamine Nation explores the science behind pleasure and pain as well as the difficult task of finding balance in the modern world.

The book reads a bit like Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, but with far more neuroscience included… that said, the scientific discussion is done in such a way that you certainly don’t need a medical degree to understand it.

I love a book that mixes research and data with personal anecdotes, which is precisely how this book is written. In order to demonstrate her various points, the author - a psychiatrist and researcher, mixes in first-hand accounts of both her own struggles with addiction as well as those of her patients.

A few of my most interesting take-aways from the book:
✨More than 1 in 10 Americans take antidepressants

✨Prescriptions for stimulants - like Adderall and Ritalin - doubled between 2006 and 2016…including in children younger than five. Likewise prescriptions for benzos (like Xanax, Valium and Klonopin - which are used to treat anxiety/panic disorders and can act as sedatives) increased by 67% between 1996 and 2013. Perhaps there is a connection???

✨When facing any sort of addiction, abstinence - for a minimum of one month - is necessary to restore homeostasis in the brain’s reward pathway.

✨While drugs (like antidepressants) can certainly help in rewiring the brain to feel less pain, they can also prevent you from feeling the full range of human emotions.

✨Studies show that cold water immersion (aka ice baths) increase domaine in the brain by 250%. This is just one example of how leaning into pain can lead to pleasure.

While I didn’t really love the author’s exploration of her addiction to romance novels, which felt a bit trivial as well as somewhat belittling of romance novels (which are beloved by many), overall I really enjoyed this one.

If you love learning about the brain and psychology or you’re interested to learn more about the science of anxiety, depression and addiction, I highly recommend this one!

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