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ManTalks Podcast

Dr. Anna Lembke - Dopamine Nation: Why We're Addicted

ManTalks Podcast

Connor Beaton

Relationships, Education, Society & Culture, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Mental Health

4.8591 Ratings

🗓️ 12 September 2021

⏱️ 54 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From your nervous system's view, our culture is swimming in dopamine. Porn, binging junk food, video games, "retail therapy"—things from the innocent to the insidious light our brains up with dopamine, and we often wind up with more than one addiction. But how does it all work, and how do we detox? Addiction to anything is never easy to unpack, so I sat down with the amazing Dr. Anna Lembke for a deep dive into dopakine; how our brain balances pleasure and pain, how it relates to trauma, and how we need to acknowledge the fact that we living in a "drugified" world. Anna Lembke is professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. A clinician scholar, she has published more than a hundred peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and commentaries. She sits on the board of several state and national addiction-focused organizations, has testified before various committees in the United States House of Representatives and Senate, keeps an active speaking calendar, and maintains a thriving clinical practice. In 2016, she published Drug Dealer, MD – How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016), which was highlighted in the New York Times as one of the top five books to read to understand the opioid epidemic (Zuger, 2018). Dr. Lembke recently appeared on the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, an unvarnished look at the impact of social media on our lives.  Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (Dutton/Penguin Random House, August 2021) explores how to moderate compulsive overconsumption in a world where feeling good is the highest good.   Connect with Dr. Lembke -Website: https://www.annalembke.com/ -Book: Dopamine Nation: https://www.annalembke.com/dopamine-nation -Book: Drug Dealer, MD: https://www.annalembke.com/drug-dealer-md Did you enjoy the podcast? If so, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Podchaser. It helps us get into the ears of new listeners, expand the ManTalks Community, and help others find the self-leadership they’re looking for. Are you looking to find purpose, navigate transition, or fix your relationships, all with a powerful group of men from around the world? Check out The Alliance and join me today.  Check out our Facebook Page or the Men's community. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts  | Spotify For more episodes visit us at ManTalks.com | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter    Editing & Mixing by: Aaron The Tech See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

We live in a world where we are saturated in dopamine and we live in a culture that encourages us to pursue it.

0:17.4

Living in this modern age is very challenging. We have to now cope with the question of,

0:22.8

how do I live in a world in which everything is provided? And if I consume too much of it,

0:28.6

which my reflexes compel me to do, I'm going to be even more unhappy. Dopamine is the final

0:35.0

common pathway for all pleasurable, intoxicating, rewarding experiences.

0:40.9

So different drugs and behaviors work on different endogenous or innate systems.

0:47.1

There's the opioid system.

0:48.6

There's the cannabinoid system.

0:50.4

There's the adrenaline system.

0:51.9

But ultimately, the final common pathway of all of those

0:56.2

rewarding substances and experiences is dopamine.

1:00.1

So those are some thoughts and words from my guest today, Dr. Anna Lemke.

1:06.0

She received her undergraduate degree in humanities from Yale University and her medical degree from

1:11.4

Stanford University. She is currently professor and medical director of addiction medicine

1:17.0

at Stanford University's School of Medicine. She is also program director of the Stanford

1:23.7

Addiction Medicine Fellowship and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual

1:28.5

Diagnosis Clinic. She is a diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology

1:35.2

and a diplomat of the American Board of Addiction Medicine. She was one of the first in the medical

1:44.1

community to sound the alarm regarding

1:46.4

opioid overprescription and the opioid epidemic. In 2016, she published her best-selling book

1:53.4

on the prescription drug epidemic called Drug Dealer, MD, how doctors were duped, patients got

2:00.0

hooked, and why it's so hard to stop.

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