A lot of this discussion about dopamine has opened up a thought process related to my faith as a Christian, and as a former pastor. I realize that much of the contemporary church is about raising dopamine levels through the worship experience. The old staid Presbyterian culture of my childhood was never exciting. But it was substantial. It was like the repetition of basic values that reminded us that love involves pain and sacrifice. That suffering is not to be avoided, but rather to be understood as a pathway to resilience and wisdom. If we only seek for pleasure, and are never willing to work hard, to suffer, to sacrifice, to fail, and fail, and fail, only to finally succeed, then we never truly know what we are capable of as persons. As I read this, I thought of George Bonanno's book, The End of Trauma: How The New Science of Resilience is Changing How We Think about PTSD, and Jonathan Shay's two books, Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and The Undoiong of Character and Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming. It also made me think of the place that the culture of simulation has in this dopamine experience. That will be for another place and time.
Yes, addictive behaviours loom large in my descent into disease too, workaholism, perfectionism, alcoholism, ocd. Dissociation, disconnection and distraction were/are also part of my coping mechanisms.
Thank you for all you do, Gary.
Thank for this summary Gary, I now want to read this book. The take away alone will help me help certain clients.
That is great if it helps others too!
A lot of this discussion about dopamine has opened up a thought process related to my faith as a Christian, and as a former pastor. I realize that much of the contemporary church is about raising dopamine levels through the worship experience. The old staid Presbyterian culture of my childhood was never exciting. But it was substantial. It was like the repetition of basic values that reminded us that love involves pain and sacrifice. That suffering is not to be avoided, but rather to be understood as a pathway to resilience and wisdom. If we only seek for pleasure, and are never willing to work hard, to suffer, to sacrifice, to fail, and fail, and fail, only to finally succeed, then we never truly know what we are capable of as persons. As I read this, I thought of George Bonanno's book, The End of Trauma: How The New Science of Resilience is Changing How We Think about PTSD, and Jonathan Shay's two books, Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and The Undoiong of Character and Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming. It also made me think of the place that the culture of simulation has in this dopamine experience. That will be for another place and time.
You are welcome, hope you enjoy it and get something practical from it too.
Yes, addictive behaviours loom large in my descent into disease too, workaholism, perfectionism, alcoholism, ocd. Dissociation, disconnection and distraction were/are also part of my coping mechanisms.
Yes, that is one positive thing about social media - it allows otherwise isolated people to find each other!