357: Mental Health: Addiction

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