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In the instant bestseller, Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, psychiatrist and author Dr. Anna Lembke explains the science of dopamine--specifically, how the relentless pursuit of pleasure paradoxically leads to pain. Over-consumption causes mental imbalance, and this includes over-indulgence in everything from drugs to smart phone screen time. Lembke provides examples of dopamine imbalance from her own practice and advice for readers on how to walk the middle way. Listen to this episode of Watching America to hear Lembke's discussion about the book (and her own experience with addiction) with host Dr. Alan Campbell.

AnnaLembke Stanford
Dr. Anna Lembke, Stanford University  

Dr. Anna Lembke received her undergraduate degree in Humanities from Yale University and her medical degree from Stanford University. She is currently Professor and Medical Director of Addiction Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine. She is also Program Director of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Fellowship, and Chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. She is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and a diplomate of the American Board of Addiction Medicine.

Lembke was one of the first in the medical community to sound the alarm regarding opioid overprescribing and the opioid epidemic. In 2016, she published her best-selling book on the prescription drug epidemic: Drug Dealer, MD – How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop. The New York Times highlighted this work as one of the top five books to read to understand the opioid epidemic.