The Paradox of Pleasure

In this episode of Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam interviews psychiatrist Anna Lembke about the science of addiction and how our modern environment, with its abundance of readily available pleasures, affects our brains. Lembke explains how the brain's pleasure-pain balance works, using the analogy of a seesaw, and how constant stimulation of the reward pathway can lead to a dopamine deficit state, resulting in increased rates of depression and anxiety. She argues that science, technology, and innovation have "drugified" almost every human behavior by increasing quantity, access, potency, and novelty, making us more vulnerable to addiction and unhappiness. The discussion includes personal anecdotes from Lembke's life and patient cases to illustrate these concepts. The episode sets the stage for a two-part series exploring how to find balance and contentment in an age of indulgence.