Summary
Overview
In this Hidden Brain episode, Stanford psychiatrist Anna Lemke explores how addiction extends far beyond illegal drugs to encompass everyday behaviors in our modern world. Through patient stories and her own experience with romance novels, she reveals how our ancient brain chemistry—designed for scarcity—struggles in today's world of abundance, leading to widespread depression, anxiety, and compulsive overconsumption.
The Surprising Face of Addiction in Silicon Valley
Anna Lemke, a psychiatrist at Stanford University in Silicon Valley, sees patients who seemingly have everything—wealth, beauty, meaningful work—yet are profoundly unhappy. She introduces three patient cases that challenge conventional notions of addiction: a young physician addicted to online sports betting who gambled away his medical school trust fund, a man trapped in compulsive online shopping cycles accumulating rooms full of unwanted items, and Jacob, a Stanford scientist whose pornography addiction escalated with internet accessibility until his life completely fell apart.
- Anna Lemke practices psychiatry in Silicon Valley, one of the richest areas in human history, yet her patients are often miserably unhappy despite outward success
- A young physician with a promising career developed an uncontrollable addiction to online sports betting after his athletic career ended
- The sports betting patient spent his entire medical school trust fund in six months, then took out a massive loan and gambled that away too
- Another patient became addicted to online shopping, with the pleasure cycle getting shorter until he was buying cheap items just to return them
- Jacob, a Stanford scientist, had a severe pornography addiction that became unmanageable with internet and smartphone access, eventually leading him to consider suicide
" I still marvel at the gap between how people present outwardly and the truth of their inner experience. We see people every day who seem to have everything you could ever want, wealth, beauty, you know, meaningful work. And yet when you look under the hood, they're miserably unhappy. "
" With the advent of the internet, and especially in the early 2000s, the smartphone, he found that this pursuit of his became unmanageable. "
Anna's Personal Addiction to Romance Novels
Anna Lemke discovered her own addiction when a friend recommended the Twilight Saga. What started as innocent reading pleasure evolved into compulsive consumption of romance novels that eventually interfered with her work and family life. She found herself needing increasingly graphic content, using a Kindle to hide what she was reading, and prioritizing reading over meaningful activities. This personal experience gave her profound insight into her patients' struggles.
- Anna was introduced to the Twilight Saga by a friend and found it absolutely mesmerizing, experiencing a feeling of 'non-being' or self-forgetting
- She progressed from the Twilight books to vampire romance novels, then werewolf romance novels, and eventually any paranormal romance she could find
- Anna would hide romance novels inside other books so her family wouldn't see what she was reading
- Getting a Kindle turbo-charged her addiction, making her a 'chain reader' who would immediately start the next book upon finishing one
- She escalated to increasingly graphic erotica, no longer caring about quality of writing but just flipping to the climactic scenes
- Anna started bringing romance novels to work and reading between patients, finding her meaningful work becoming dull and gray
" It was as if I had never read a novel in my life, and all of a sudden, this novel about a bunch of teenage vampires running around biting each other on the neck just absolutely transported me. It was really weird. "
" I would actually put the book inside another book so that if one of my kids came by or my husband came by, I could look like I was reading the other book. "
" I have a great husband I have got these great kids I have work that I adore My patients are just so fantastic There was nothing wrong I was really just escaping too. "
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