Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence by Anna Lembke

36 reviews

playing2001's review against another edition

hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Very good, a great book that uses stories as examples, so it moves at a faster pace than you would expect given the content.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Sexual content

isabellazuniga's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Sexual content

eliasaurus's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.0

First and foremost, this isn't a self help book. It presents information in a simplistic and accessible way, so it's definitely pop sci.

The book's first section is its strongest, with a good overview of what dopamine does and its role in addiction. However, the section about pain went on longer than it needed to, and the section about shame seemed completely out of place. This section is probably responsible for the reviews stating that Lembke is overly favorable towards AA and the 12 steps. I don't think she's recommending AA as much as stating that it worked for many of her patients. Still, this part of the book is the shakiest and could have been omitted entirely.

On the whole, the book is very readable and I learned some new info. I also enjoyed the patient stories (and the author's note about obtaining consent for their use). But it's not amazing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Animal cruelty, and Alcoholism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

slipppers98's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

2.5

Warning: Animal cruelty detailed!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, and Sexual content

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Alcohol, and Suicidal thoughts

mjadeh's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Self harm, Addiction, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Eating disorder

mld12's review against another edition

dark informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.0

I thought I was going to put this book down, but it had some good stuff. The author gave some clear guide lines that still allow for the flexibility of everyone’s individual lives.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Alcoholism, Violence, Sexual content, and Self harm

dbumgarner's review against another edition

I found this book offensive in a few ways, including the author’s assumption that people in larger bodies are diagnosable with food addiction, citing the only symptom as “an inability to lose weight” and her puritanical beliefs about abstinence, especially around sexual triggers. I was hoping for some insight on how to navigate more mindfully in a world with so many screens and apps designed to steal my attention, but I don’t agree with her base values and beliefs and her supposition that *all* dopamine is bad or a slippery slope to addiction. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Sexual content, Addiction, and Suicidal thoughts

taylorgraves555's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

e_a_bee's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

2.0

Decent science, but some of her anecdotes are reductive and not particularly beneficial to the premise. Wouldn’t really recommend more than the chapter outlining her DOPAMINE acronym.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, and Fatphobia

zinn24's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction