Fantastic piece. I’ve been noticing dopamine’s ubiquity in mainstream discourse lately, too. I hear undergrads on my campus say things like “how are your dopamine levels, bro? Have you been meditating and hitting the gym?” And I agree that this slippage has been spurred on by facile appropriations of addiction science. It doesn’t help that huge names in the field like Anna Lembke (author most recently of “Dopamine Nation”) use neuroscientific concepts to explain process addictions. We now live in an age of poly-addictions, it seems. Anyway, great piece!
amazing article. im always relieved after reading your analysis of these ridiculous trends, bc it means im not the only one who thinks theyre ridiculous.
Love this!!! Yet again the people who are being harmed by a system that is not serving us are the ones meant to keep going on self-improvement. Treating the symptoms, not the underlying needs. Thank you for sharing such a fascinating piece!
another funny thing is just how simplistic these theories are... for example: dopamine has many subtypes, and some agonist drugs actually result in sleepiness, some partial agonists modulate energy levels, and dopamine levels can be indirectly modulated by tens of other neurotransmitters eg prozac, an ssri, increases dopamine receptor numbers in the PFC, the area responsible for executive function.
I was tempted to say that what they are more likely looking for is norepinephrine or glutamate... but that would be me falling into same trap!
Interesting piece. Maybe the case about the workers with monotonous jobs shows that our relation to 'dopamine levels' (or boredom) depends on our intent. Namely, a routine job with low interactivity can be thought of as an “un-intentional dopamine fast”. And therefore a worker that fasts un-intentionally might crave “dopamine snacks”. Whereas an individual that would engage intentionally in a fasting practice would thereby have agency over its own situation/boredom.
Dopamine: The Self-Improvement Mythos Of Our Age
Fantastic piece. I’ve been noticing dopamine’s ubiquity in mainstream discourse lately, too. I hear undergrads on my campus say things like “how are your dopamine levels, bro? Have you been meditating and hitting the gym?” And I agree that this slippage has been spurred on by facile appropriations of addiction science. It doesn’t help that huge names in the field like Anna Lembke (author most recently of “Dopamine Nation”) use neuroscientific concepts to explain process addictions. We now live in an age of poly-addictions, it seems. Anyway, great piece!
Thank you for this hilarious parable about a sick society that replaced the spiritual with capitalism. Awesome work👌
amazing article. im always relieved after reading your analysis of these ridiculous trends, bc it means im not the only one who thinks theyre ridiculous.
Love this!!! Yet again the people who are being harmed by a system that is not serving us are the ones meant to keep going on self-improvement. Treating the symptoms, not the underlying needs. Thank you for sharing such a fascinating piece!
another funny thing is just how simplistic these theories are... for example: dopamine has many subtypes, and some agonist drugs actually result in sleepiness, some partial agonists modulate energy levels, and dopamine levels can be indirectly modulated by tens of other neurotransmitters eg prozac, an ssri, increases dopamine receptor numbers in the PFC, the area responsible for executive function.
I was tempted to say that what they are more likely looking for is norepinephrine or glutamate... but that would be me falling into same trap!
Interesting piece. Maybe the case about the workers with monotonous jobs shows that our relation to 'dopamine levels' (or boredom) depends on our intent. Namely, a routine job with low interactivity can be thought of as an “un-intentional dopamine fast”. And therefore a worker that fasts un-intentionally might crave “dopamine snacks”. Whereas an individual that would engage intentionally in a fasting practice would thereby have agency over its own situation/boredom.
This is really great. It made me think again about how I deny myself easy dopamine as if it was junk food, and whether that's really a good thing.
I didnt really get which part of self improvement is a myth???
So dopamine detox is bad then???