357: Mental Health: Addiction
Wise Traditions
Weston A. Price Foundation
4.7 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 14 March 2022
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When we think of addiction, alcohol and drugs may immediately spring to mind. But we can also become addicted to digital "substances," like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, even video games. Today, Dr. Anna Lembke helps us uncover the nature of addiction: why we get addicted, what happens when we do, and what we can do to break its hold on us.
Anna is a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine. Her new book is Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence. Anna expounds on what happens in the brain and the body when we become addicted to a chemical substance or something virtual. She explains how intense digital addictions can be. She also uncovers how to identify addictive behavior in ourselves and its sources. She also offers hope as she tells the stories of her patients who have escaped the clutches of addiction and transformed their lives for the better.
Check out Anna's book: Dopamine Nation
Become a member of the Weston A. Price Foundation.
Visit our sponsors: Redmond Real Salt, Women's Meditation Network, & Optimal Carnivore
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | If you think about the sort of four factors that make something highly reinforcing or addictive, |
| 0:04.3 | it's access. |
| 0:05.3 | So easy access. |
| 0:06.3 | And of course, the smartphone has become the equivalent of the hypoderminic syringe delivering |
| 0:10.5 | digital dopamine 24-7 access couldn't be easier. |
| 0:14.5 | In terms of quantity, quantity really makes the difference. |
| 0:16.8 | The more of a drug we consume, the more likely we are to get addicted to that drug. |
| 0:21.2 | And the thing about digital products, like TikTok, is that they are literally infinite. |
| 0:26.3 | You can run out of a line of cocaine. |
| 0:28.3 | You never run out of TikTok. |
| 0:35.6 | From the Weston A Price Foundation, welcome to the Wise Traditions podcast for Wise Traditions |
| 0:40.8 | in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts. |
| 0:43.6 | We are your source for scientific knowledge and traditional wisdom to help you achieve |
| 0:47.7 | optimal health. |
| 0:48.7 | Hey, Hilda here. |
| 0:56.8 | And we think of addiction, alcohol and drugs may immediately spring to mind. |
| 1:01.2 | But we can also become addicted to digital substances, so to speak, like Facebook, Twitter and |
| 1:06.6 | TikTok, even video games. |
| 1:09.0 | This is episode 357 and our guest today is Dr. Anna Lemke. |
| 1:13.6 | Anna is a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine. |
| 1:18.4 | Her new book is Dopamine Nation, finding balance in the age of indulgence. |
| 1:24.0 | Anna today expounds on what happens in the brain and the body when we become addicted |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Weston A. Price Foundation, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Weston A. Price Foundation and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.