A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the root causes of addiction and how to overcome it.

-The New York Times Book Review-

A groundbreaking book that challenges our understanding of addiction and offers a new path to recovery.

-The Wall Street Journal-

A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the science of addiction and how to overcome it.

-The Washington Post-

 In our boring daily lives, the enjoyment feels good and makes us energetic and pleasant. The pleasure that we once felt isn’t forgotten, so we continuously look for other interesting things like sweet candy. As people in modern society find something light and fun to enjoy such as short-form content, there is the hidden side of the tendency that they want more stimulating things. For people who once asked themselves, “Am I addicted to enjoyment?”, Pharos is going to discuss dopamine, which is related to feelings of happiness, and introduce a book named Dopamination  by Anna Lembke.

 Modern society has a fixed structure where not only adults but also adolescents live exhausted lives because of competitiveness and meritocracy. People are looking for an escape hatch in this barren society, finding pleasure and fun while averting their eyes to overspending and impulse buying through social media. Here, we want something interesting that makes us happy which will release dopamine, Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in our central nervous system. It is concerned with positive feelings like happiness and enjoyment. However, when it becomes excessive, people can feel depressed, lethargic, and even in pain.

 Pleasure is addicting. The book Dopamination deals with enjoyment and addiction at the same time. It discusses how people must become aware that pleasure can be dangerous because of its toxicity. Behaviors that we try to pursue for pleasure are movements to lessen our attention to ourselves and to escape from our inner pain. The act of avoiding such pain leads to addiction and trying to protect ourselves from pain makes us bent on stimulation. This book talks about what happens in the brain when people are addicted to dopamine, and it reminds us that enjoyment is different from continuous happiness. In addition, it helps readers more clearly think about their relationship with dopamine obviously.

 The book Dopamination that Pharos introduced is one of the most popular humanities books today. It is a best seller in various bookstores. Actually, the fact that there are many people who are addicted to dopamine means there is a lack of small joys in daily life and people often feel alone in society. Dopamine, called the ‘happy hormone’, influences people’s emotions. However, we have to recognize how it works and how to escape from addiction. This book will guide readers to become a person who seeks real happiness, not just a person who finds instant pleasure.

77th Reporter • JOE YEON WOO • amyjoe0213@naver.com