Andrei Rad's Reviews > Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence

It was an enjoyable simple read. It’s based not just on pure theory, but also on the hands-on experience the author has as a psychotherapist. The problem the book exposes is the increase in dopaminergic consumption in our modern societies. We became obsessed with the pursuit of pleasure for its own sake. That leads to neuroadaptation and tolerance to pleasure, ending in all sorts of nasty and harmful addictions. The solution is to find and maintain a pleasure-pain balance that allows us to experience the pleasure of simple things, without needing to resort to overconsumption of high dopamine substances or behaviours.

The first part of the book explains the terminology: the substances involved in the brain's reward pathway, how the addiction is formed, and the ways in which today’s society presses on the side of pleasure to sustain this vicious cycle.

The second part explores personal solutions to the problem of addiction, like dopamine fasting, self binding (physical, chronological, and categorial strategies), embracing mild intermittent exposure to pain, practising radical honesty, and finding compassionate persons or groups that can keep you accountable. While the analysis of the problem is done both at individual and society level, the solutions are explored only from the individual point of view.

I especially liked the realism of the book, it doesn’t offer cookie-cutter solutions, like many books on this subject are tempted to do. Moreover, it somehow adds value to an already over-saturated subject. I think that’s because the author knows how to go sideways and to digress in relevant ways. On the other hand, there are no citations to the studies, for those who want to fact check. All references are added at the end. And beware, some discreet readers might find one particular counselling example disgraceful.