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Dr Anna Lembke is a Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University, a New York Times Bestselling Author, addiction expert, and clinician. There are few people on the planet who know more about dopamine and its role in addiction than Dr Lembke, so it was a real honour to get to sit down and have this conversation with her. I’m growing convinced that understanding how dopamine works in the brain and body is the key not only to breaking addictions, but also to long term flourishing in life, and in this interview, Anna clearly explains why.

Expect to learn:

— Why rates of depression and anxiety are rising rapidly in affluent societies

— Why it’s vital for any mental health professional to understand how dopamine works in the brain

— Dr Lembke’s own battle with addiction and what we can learn from it

— Anna’s science-based strategies for breaking addictions

— The pain/pleasure balance and the role this plays in mental health and wellbeing.

And more.

You can learn more about Anna’s work at https://www.annalembke.com.

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This session was recorded as part of the Holistic Psychotherapy Summit on January 2023. To access the full conference package, as well as supporting materials, quizzes, and certification, please visit: https://holisticpsychotherapysummit.com

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Dr Anna Lembke is a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. A clinician scholar, she has published more than a hundred peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and commentaries. She sits on the board of several state and national addiction-focused organizations, has testified before various committees in the United States House of Representatives and Senate, keeps an active speaking calendar, and maintains a thriving clinical practice.

In 2016, she published Drug Dealer, MD – How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016), which was highlighted in the New York Times as one of the top five books to read to understand the opioid epidemic (Zuger, 2018). Dr. Lembke recently appeared on the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, an unvarnished look at the impact of social media on our lives.

Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (Dutton/Penguin Random House, August 2021), an instant New York Times Bestseller, explores how to moderate compulsive overconsumption in a dopamine-overloaded world.

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Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro
00:27 - Dopamine Nation
07:08 - Dopamine's Impact on Mental Well-being
12:27 - Understanding Behavioral Addictions
19:10 - Four Cs: Guide to Addressing Addiction
22:41 - Pleasure to Balance
37:38 - Motivation Redefined
46:14 - Therapeutic Journey Through Dopamine

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Interview Links:

Dr Lembke's website: https://www.annalembke.com

Dr Lembke's books: https://amzn.to/47nIg8g

3 Books Dr Lembke Recommends Every Therapist Should Read:

Thoughts without a Thinker - Mark Epstein: https://amzn.to/3a50Ucw

The Big Book of AA: https://amzn.to/3AfoU7z

Dying Unto Life - Arthur C. McGill: https://amzn.to/3OP4mrb