Dopamine

Dopamine. I’ve been reading books about this neuromodulator and it’s been incredibly fascinating to find out what dopamine does for our love life, our careers, or any other endeavor we choose to pursue. It’s the driving force behind everything we do.

How many people have taken a drink at a party, felt the dopaminergic rush from the alcohol, and craving more of that feeling, kept drinking until they were sick? Almost everyone I know has learned that lesson.

How many people have pursued a romantic interest relentlessly and then, after getting with said person, are dissatisfied with them after a few months? I think most of us have done this.

In both of these cases, dopamine was the culprit. This neuromodulator continues to make promises it can’t deliver. It can bring us to new heights in our career, or down to the depths of life crippling addiction. It constantly tells us what’s around the corner or over the next hurdle will make us happy and then gives us the energy to get there! But upon arrival it immediately lets us down as we are never satisfied with this new acquisition. The happiness dopamine promised was an illusion, something it could never give us. Only hormones like serotonin, oxytocin, vasopressin etc. can allow us to be happy and they require effort to elicit.

The dopaminergic circuits of the brain are much larger and stronger than the serotonergic circuits. We’re a species that has survived mainly on the drive for more. It takes focus to be content with the here and now. We always innately crave another thrill.

Think about this when you go out on your endeavors this weekend. Are you chasing an illusion dopamine has created or are you using it to actually work toward bettering your happiness and well being?

Great books about dopamine: ‘The Molecule of More’ by Dr. Daniel Lieberman and Michael Long and ‘Dopamine Nation’ by Dr. Anna Lembke.