Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence

Addiction isn’t constrained to compulsive drug and alcohol use. It’s a behavioral disorder resulting from continual dopamine release in the brain that causes an imbalance between pleasure and pain. This imbalance creates the need to artificially rebalance, which can lead to addictive and compulsive behaviors.

The neurotransmitter dopamine plays a major role in motivation and focus. Lembke points out that the anticipation of the pleasure that comes from the reward releases dopamine in our brains. In addition to illicit drug use, Lembke identifies less obvious sources of artificial dopamine release, like the use of social media apps: People with an addiction to social media anticipate “likes” and experience pleasure from receiving them.

This term describes a person’s attempt to impose barriers between themself and a drug or behavior toward which they have a compulsion. Essentially, self-binding removes temptations that could trigger the behavior. A common example is a person with alcoholism removing all liquor bottles from the house.