The Path to Enough
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedantam. It seems like the simplest choice in the world. Given the option between pain and pleasure, we ought to choose pleasure. Is it better to be hungry or full? Better to be tired or alert? Better to watch another episode of our favorite TV show or do the dishes? It isn't just our own minds that tell us to choose the path of enjoyment and indulgence. Our friends remind us that life is short. Say no to dessert or another round of drinks, and someone might call you a spoilsport. At Stanford University, psychiatrist Anna Lemke has heard the same messages. But as a scientist, she's also studied the way our brains balance pain and pleasure. The two sit on opposite ends of a neural seesaw, and the brain constantly attempts to bring them into equilibrium, or what is known as homeostasis.
When we press down hard and often on the pleasure side of the seesaw, triggering bursts of the neurotransmitter dopamine, Anna says the brain automatically compensates by pressing down on the other side, producing a dopamine deficit. Over time, as people press down too much or too often on the pleasure side of the equation, the brain compensates so forcefully that we start to walk around with a chronic dopamine deficit. This can manifest as anxiety, irritability, and depression. There is complex neurochemistry behind the process of homeostasis, but Anna has come up with a simple way to visualize this. When you press down on one side of the seesaw, imagine a bunch of gremlins inside your head jumping on the other side of the seesaw.
We explored how this mechanism works and why it exists in our previous episode. If you missed it, I strongly suggest you listen to it first. Today, we continue with the second part of our story about the paradoxical effects of pleasure. And we ask what it means to live a life of balance and harmony. How to work with the brain rather than against it. This week on Hidden Brain.
Maija here from OP Pohjola. Hi. Now you're focusing on this. No, you're focusing on this.
I mean, focusing. Concentration makes a bonus. As an owner and customer of Osuuspank, you can choose which OP bonuses you use. The option choices are bank and insurance service fees. op.fi bonus. Vahinkovakuutukset offers Pohjola Vakuutus Oy. Henkivakuutuksen offers OP Henkivakuutus Oy. Anna Lemke is a psychiatrist at Stanford University. She has worked with many patients who have addictions, not just to drugs like cocaine and heroin, but to everyday activities taken to excess. She has treated patients with a range of out-of-control indulgences, from eating and drinking to online shopping and sports betting. Around the time she turned 40, Anna found herself in the grip of an addiction. She was consumed with romance novels and erotica.
And a note that this next part of the discussion involves references to sex.
How does Anna Lembke explain the neuroscience behind addiction?
At one point, she found herself swept up in the novel Fifty Shades of Grey. The story, later made into a movie, revolves around a sadomasochistic relationship between a college student and a business tycoon.
There's some people who say that I don't have a heart at all.
Why would they say that?
Because they know me well.
Do you have any interests outside of work?
I enjoy various physical pursuits.
I asked Anna what drew her to the book. I'm honestly not even sure I know because it didn't really matter when I was reading it. That is to say like the plot and the characters mattered not at all. I was reading it for the sex scenes. You know, embarrassing to admit that, but it's true. But I remember rationalizing it to myself as a modern day pride and prejudice. But, you know, not really.
Yeah, you don't think Jane Austen would have written Fifty Shades of Grey?
Don't think so.
No, don't think so. So at a certain point, Anna, you started to see that your enjoyment of romance novels and fantasy had tipped over from entertainment to something more potent. When did you have this realization as you were reading Fifty Shades of Grey? I remember it vividly.
It was about three in the morning on a weeknight, well past the hour I should have been sleeping so that I could be prepared for the next day to come.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:39
2
How does Anna Lembke explain the neuroscience behind addiction?
3:39–13:10
3
What techniques can help overcome addictive behaviors?
13:10–26:53
4
How can relationships and community support recovery from addiction?
26:53–44:14
5
What is the relationship between ADHD and addiction?
44:14–1:34:32
6
How does dopamine fasting work and what are its benefits?
1:34:32–1:34:52