Too much pleasure causes pain

A fresh perspective on why anxiety, chronic pain and depression have been on the rise

Happiness has been declining precipitously in the West for 30 years, despite better access to healthcare and education and decreases in poverty and violence. Groundbreaking Stanford psychiatrist and author of Dopamine Nation, Anna Lembke, provides a fresh perspective on why anxiety, chronic pain and depression have been on the rise, locating the problem in a mismatch between the modern world and our brain’s pain and pleasure apparatus.

 

As a practicing psychiatrist in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley for more than two decades, I’ve seen growing numbers of patients struggling with depression, anxiety, and chronic pain, despite otherwise good health, loving families, robust social networks, financial privilege, and access to elite education … all the things we’ve come to associate with the ‘good life’.

My clinical experience broadly mirrors what is happening in the rest of the world. Global happiness surveys show that people today are less happy than they were 20 years ago. Rates of anxiety, depression, and chronic pain are increasing all over the planet but especially in rich nations.

How can we make sense of this?

Some argue that our despair is the result of a widening income gap. But the long view tells us that in fact the gap between rich and poor is smaller than it has been in centuries. Even the poorest of the poor living in rich nations today have more leisure time, more disposable income, and more access to luxury goods than at any point in recorded history. Some argue that trauma is the source of our suffering, but what kind of trauma are we talking about, beyond the trauma we create for ourselves? Can we honestly say that life today is more traumatic than it was thirty years ago?

___

Continue reading

Enjoy unlimited access to the world's leading thinkers.

Start by exploring our subscription options or joining our mailing list today.

Start Free Trial

Already a subscriber? Log in

Latest Releases
Join the conversation