I liked the book. It is always nice to read something that promotes less mainstream messages. Some might find her book unpleasant due to the same reason. I liked the fact that she put her arguments in the book based on her experience and knowledge (in my point of view) in a non controversial way. I believe the acknowledgement of different points of view (knowledge based ones) helps our minds to grow and to me this book was a good way to go for that.

Negative feelings, low number of facts and practical advice. Marketing title though

Wow, I never write reviews, but have to for this one: Well-explained science and honest stories. I’ll definitely be revisiting the conclusion: Immerse yourself in the life you are given, instead of trying to escape. - [3 years sober from meth, briefly in NA. Trying to be thoughtful about other habits that feel precarious sometimes.] If you’re at a point where you have trouble facing yourself… it may take more effort to listen, but I hope you still do.

Really puts into perspective why we default to "bored to death" when we aren't actively stimulated. I look forward to attempting a stimulus detox, curbing my indulgence, and building a sense of discipline in a world where everything is just a keystroke or a phone swipe away.

I am just over an hour into this and I want my money back. This is entirely anecdotal and biased. The author is offensive and lacks critical thinking skills. Her conclusions are at the very least flawed and at worst, harmful to those she counsels. The "evidence" she tries to tie to her thoughts in an ignorant attempt at reasoning would be funny if not so very lacking, weak, and insulting. She implies that reading romance novels is a slippery slope to engineering self mastabatory machinery. Also, as I have not finished the book this may be premature, but I also got the impression she thinks there is little value to medication even when used properly in psychiatric care. If you are in the field of psychology or vaguely inclined to the scientific method, please do not waste a monthly credit, money, or time on this.

This book was EYE OPENING! It's written beautifully and captures your attention immediately. I love that she explains her methods for therapy and how she helped others overcome addictions - from the most mundane ones to the hardest ones. She speaks from personal experience since she also had to overcome an addiction herself. Everyone should read it!

Absolutely fascinating - I never understood the balance of pain and pleasure in the brain. Once I understood this I stopped drinking completely. So incredibly thankful for this book. Dr. Lembke is such a good communicator and simplifies technical content in an understandable way.

This book really hit home for me. Highly recommend.

A good story supported by many and entertaining real world examples. I think I found some new words that resonated with me. Also insights like the minds pain pleasure balance made me predict the topic of self harm. I knew a little about ice baths but this was not how I thought it worked. Fascinating to hear so much about addiction. Interesting description of the addict trying to create a problem to solve and having the drug as a constellation prize/real prize. I especially found it insightful to hear about pro-social shaming in order to keep groups cohesive and subsequently group reward high. I thought this may be applicable to groups where freeloaders are a large problem. It might even connect the line between sharing your problems to heal vs sharing them to self benefit. A nuanced problem I thought deserved a little more attention. I wonder if these people would be less common by adding pro-social shaming. Making it less easy to feel good about sharing a tortured past.

I am really excited and grateful for the awareness she is trying to raise, but her profound heteronormativity and narrow-mindedness about human sexuality feels like shes stuck in the 1950s. Sex addiction is absolutely real, but stigmatizing masturbation and the use of pornography, and not understanding the role of shame in creating sexual addiction, takes the quality of her research down significantly. Her first patient being told masturbation is a sin was clearly part of what brought him into the binge and purge cycle and she doesnt acknowledge this at all. My mother was a drug rehab counselor and I grew up being taken to and participating in 12 step programs, so Im not ignorant about addiction. But as a queer and sex-positive person, I see her perspective as being part of the harmful culture that encourages sex addiction. Im shocked at how naive she seems about this.

Very interesting exploration of dopamine, especially in the context of addiction issues. Very accessible to non-technical readers and a great thought-provoking topic. Great for stimulating personal reflection or book group discussions!

I needed some dopamine myself after slogging through this disappointing book

We can tump the scale from either direction

Yes, the first chapter is hard to listen, but you need to keep listening till the end. You can’t possibly review or have an option about it if don’t finish it. I think what most people are looking for is a self help book, this is not it. It might help you with a new way of thinking about every day habits and how they effect your everyday life. Come with a open mind before reading.

Nah this ain’t it, the information presented in Huberman Lab rings much more factual and useful

Great book.

The whole book rang false. Author goes for titillating but claims she isnt. Even her story about addiction to romance novels seems bogus. Her voicing of the man with the sex addiction is offensive

This was a wonderful book with lots of beautiful insights. For me this was a slow burn, I knew most of the science, but found myself thinking about this book all the time, generating new insights that came from the fusion of science, clinic, and her own life.

Must listen!!! brings you back to core values and realization how addicted we are to everyTHING! Loved the voice too!!!

This book goes against the grain many things we are being told makes us happy. It is not too short or too long and well written. What strikes me most ist how genuine the author is and that I could connect to her feelings and her message easily. I really want to reread Jonathan Haidts book about Happiness again and see how the ideas connect. A surprizingly good read and I am glad to have discovered the author on the Modern Wisdom Podcast.

Legit. helpful.

Fascinating!!