Review: Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence

Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence by Anna Lembke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was thinking for a long time, what's my attitude towards this book. At the beginning I was fascinated by the theoretical insights on dopamine I got from this book but the more I read, the darker became the woods.

Dr. Lembke is illustrating the book with the stories of her patients and in my mind the grim realization that addiction is forever was growing more and more. No matter how hard you try, you're an addict forever. You can go to remission, be in recovery for decades, but you should always remember that you're an addict and you should forever control yourself not to have even a slightest dose of your drug of preference, otherwise, sooner or later, you'll slip. You can find a "replacement" drug, but you'll always remain an addict, unfortunately.

After reading this book, I, at first, hated it. I wanted to throw it away. But the more I thought of it and discussed with my friends, the more I understood that I hated it because of the uncomfortable truth it was presenting and it was the truth I didn't like.

I admire people to managed to go to recovery, because it is extremely hard and it's extremely hard to get your life back on track. Hope, i'll be able to do that myself one day.

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