Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgenceby

This book is about pleasure. It's also about pain. Most importantly, it's about how to find the delicate balance between the two and why finding balance is essential now more than ever. We're living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting... The increased numbers, variety, and potency are staggering. The smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine 24/7 for a wired generation. As such, we've all become vulnerable to compulsive overconsumption.

In Dopamine Nation, Dr. Anna Lembke, psychiatrist and author explores the exciting new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain...and what to do about it. Lembke illustrates how finding contentment and connectedness means keeping dopamine in check by condensing complex neuroscience into easy-to-understand metaphors. The lived experiences of her patients are the gripping fabric of her narrative. Their riveting stories of suffering and redemption give us all hope for managing our consumption and transforming our lives. In essence, Dopamine Nation shows that the secret to finding balance combines the science of desire with the wisdom of recovery.