A New Perspective

To say that dopamine is the pleasure hormone is an insidious bit of knowledge and has wide reaching consequences on what we believe to be true about things that we believe we like and the reality of addiction. To believe this is to fail to recognize the difference between actual feelings, or processes taking place in the brain. Believing that dopamine is the pleasure hormone mistakenly gives us the idea that we want the thing that brings us the pleasure.

Perhaps one of the most transformative things I've learned as of late is that dopamine is a hook. By saying that dopamine is a hook, I mean that it is responsible for pushing us to obtain an outcome, which of course could manifest in positive or negative ways. The important distinction is that dopamine is there to help motivate us towards a reward, it is not the reward itself.

What is the thing that we feel when we desire something? This may be a more philosophical question than anything, but it does help illuminate the difference between the force that pushes us to the pleasure and the pleasure itself. For myself, the intense desire is really no different than intense stress from some situation that I perceive to be difficult while the pleasure of obtaining is more of a feeling of intense delight or satisfaction. Then afterwards, I regret following the urge to succumb to the pleasure.

The true process is as follows:

For example, an idea may pop into my head that I want chocolate. Of course I like the taste of chocolate, but I most often regret eating it after I finish. What is actually happening here is not that I eat chocolate and dopamine is released but that following the idea, dopamine is released to pressure me into eating the chocolate. After I indulge myself, the brain releases endorphins, the brains natural opioids and I get my fix from partaking. The chocolate is good, but it isn't that good to bring lasting satisfaction. In reality I hate how it makes me break out after I indulge myself.

In essence, the release of dopamine is the presence of withdrawal. The release of dopamine is not from the pleasure, but the rising sense of anticipation ( a form of stress ) that if I keep going, I will obtain the pleasure. This is a profound difference, a confusion of mental processes, and it has a huge effect on compelling us to remain hooked on our addictions. To fail to realize that dopamine is a hook is really part of the deception of pleasure.

It should also be mentioned that the super stimulus of modern day life such as fast food, sugar, objects of lust, and perhaps even things like TV are really no different than opioid addictions. The difference is that with opioid addiction is that we consume them whereas with super stimulants, our brain produces them on its own.

To disarm the feeling, we must realize the idea has brought about a withdrawal. The withdrawal is not even desire, but a hook to drag us to the forbidden pleasure. We never wanted the pleasure, but nevertheless we will be carried there if we do not immediately realize that we are feeling a withdrawal.

Why is it that we can enjoy many things in life but not become addicted? For example, I love steak, but I could never become addicted to it. Why is it with other things we indulge in an almost automatic fashion and are unable to resist the allure they pose? The reason is simple, we have confused our feelings. When we believed we were craving it, that from the most inner part of our bodies we had to have it, we confused the withdrawal for a desire. Then when we partook of it, we wish we wouldn't have because we never wanted the thing in the first place.

This is the mistake, having a deep belief that we wanted or even liked the thing that either its effects, or the thing itself actually repulses us.

To open our minds to this idea may free us from the snares we have been facing.