# Summary Why, in a time of unprecedented wealth, freedom, technological progress, and medical advancement, do we appear to be unhappier and in more pain than ever? **The reason we're all so miserable may be because we're working so hard to avoid being miserable.** > 💬 The relentless pursuit of pleasure (and avoidance of pain) leads to pain. The book offers '*practical solutions for how to manage compulsive behaviour in a world where consumption has become the all-encompassing motive of our lives.*' It does this by combining the science of desire with the wisdom of recovery, as discovered through the authors clinical work with addicts. ![[Pleasure and pain are co-located and work like a balance]] # Ideas and Contents ## Introduction [[More dopamine makes an experience more addictive]] [[Pain and pleasure work like opposite sides of a balance]] [[Compulsive overconsumption]] ## Chap 1 Our Masturbation Machines [[Addiction]] [[US Opioid Epidemic]] [[Ease of access to an activity or substance is a big risk factor for addiction]] [[Limbic Capitalism]] [[Seventy percent of global deaths are attributable to modifiable behavioural risk factors]] [[Leading global risks for mortality]] [[The rise in global deaths from addiction]] [[Poor and uneducated people in rich nations are most susceptible to addiction]] ## Chap 2 Running from Pain [[Don't over-protect children from adversity]] [[Modern doctors are expected to eliminate all pain]] [[Many people struggle with minor forms of discomfort]] [[Many people are incapable of tolerating boredom]] [[Happiness is declining in many WEIRD countries]] [[Depression is rising worldwide]] [[Physical pain is increasing worldwide]] ## Chap 3 The Pleasure-Pain Balance [[Neurons]] [[Pleasure and pain are co-located and work like a balance]] [[Hedonism leads to anhedonia]] [[Co-dependent learning]] [[The inability to predict an award can cause motivation and craving]] [[Experience-dependent plasticity]] [[Humans have responded too well to the challenge of pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain by transforming the world from a place of scarcity to a place of abundance]] ## Chap 4 Dopamine Fasting [[DOPAMINE Fasting Framework]] ## Chap 5 Space, Time, and Meaning [[Physical acts can help one to abstain]] [[Self-binding strategies]] [[Delay discounting]] [[Compulsive overconsumption and leisure time]] ## Chap 6 A Broken Balance [[Long-term psychotropic medication use tends to have poor outcomes]] # Conclusions - Lessons of the Balance This is a conclusion/summary at the end of the book: 1. [[The relentless pursuit of pleasure (and avoidance of pain) leads to pain]] 2. [[Recovery begins with abstinence]] 3. [[Abstinence resets the brain's reward pathway and with it our capacity to experience joy in simpler pleasures]] 4. [[Self-binding creates literal and metacognitive space between desire and consumption]] 5. Medications can restore homeostasis, but consider what we lose by medicating away our pain 6. Pressing on the pain side resets out balance to the side of pleasure 7. Beware of getting addicted to pain 8. [[Radical honesty promotes awareness, enhances intimacy, and fosters a plenty mindset]] 9. [[Prosocial shame]] affirms that we belong to the human tribe 10. Instead of running away from the world, we can find escape by immersing ourselves in it. # Questions ## What is the book about as a whole? 1. Dopamine is important for reward and motivation 2. Modern life sets us up to avoid pain and seek pleasure with minimal effort, which disrupts our dopamine balance. 3. We should follow strategies to bring our dopamine back into balance and to keep it there, resulting in a more content life. ## What is being said in detail, and how? The book goes into the science behind the neurotransmitter [[Dopamine]], which plays a very important role in motivation and reward in the brain. Pain and unhappiness are on the rise, especially in [[WEIRD Countries]], and the author posits that part of the problem is that many of us are caught up in [[The relentless pursuit of pleasure (and avoidance of pain) leads to pain|the relentless pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain, which leads to pain]] because when dopamine goes up above its baseline, it has to go below it to get back to baseline, due to [[Homeostasis]] The modern world is packed full of cheap, instant access to dopamine, also called [[Instant gratification]]. This easy access to dopamine runs contrary to our [[Hunter-Gatherer Lifestyle]] where dopamine was gotten through hard work. ## Is the book true, in whole or part? I believe it to be almost entirely true; not fully because I doubt any book is 100% accurate but this is likely close: 1. A lot of it makes sense from my own personal experience. 2. [[Patrick McAndrew]] believes it to be true, and to be important enough to teach it in the [[Momentum Mind 3.0 Workshop]]. 3. 731 Amazon reviews, 4.5 out of 5 stars. ## What of it? # Notes For future reading on dopamine: [The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity](https://www.amazon.com/Molecule-More-Chemical-Creativity_and-Determine/dp/1948836580/ref=pd_sim_1/145-1717863-6228365?pd_rd_w=xWCHc&pf_rd_p=6caf1c3a-a843-4189-8efc-81b67e85dc96&pf_rd_r=JPWKHTQXM5VV31MMQDH0&pd_rd_r=81496574-78aa-44fa-a1d2-9da8005da711&pd_rd_wg=mCyKG&pd_rd_i=1948836580&psc=1) # Meta **Author**:: [[Dr. Anna Lembke]] **Tags::** #Book #LiteratureNotes/Book **Concepts**:: #Concept/Neurology/Dopamine #Concept/Addiction **Format**:: #Book/Format/Digital **Purchased**:: 01/12/2021 **Location**:: Kindle **Rating**:: 9/10 **Status**:: #Book/Status/Reading **Began reading**:: **Finished reading**::