Dopamine-Seeking Behavior: Mental Health Consequences of Instant Gratification

Article written by Denver therapist Shelby Aronoff

As we navigate through a world where everything is essentially at our fingertips, we have learned to expect nothing short of instant gratification.

The things that we all consider to be convenient in our lives, such as our smartphones and tablets, same-day delivery, streaming services, etc., allow us to get more done faster, and we are all expected to keep up.

However, alongside these advancements comes a significant consequence to our mental health, and dopamine lies at the center.

When our reliance on dopamine falls out of balance, it can drastically affect our mental health, giving way to heightened feelings of anxiety and depression while leaving us feeling powerless in our own lives.

But what is dopamine, and how does it influence our mental well-being?

Here, we will examine dopamine’s role in our daily lives and identify ways to break free in a dopamine-dependent world.

What Is Dopamine?

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that sends important messages to our bodies and brains related to motivation, learning, rewards, and pleasure.

Read More: “Finding Balance: Self Care and Stress Management Strategies for Individuals with ADHD”

It is what causes feelings of joy and satisfaction when you hear your favorite song, hug a loved one, get likes on a post, or complete a task.

We have always needed dopamine to stay motivated, evolve, and survive. Dopamine also draws us towards creating habits in our daily lives, as we learn over time what makes us feel good.

Like moths to a flame, we inevitably seek out actions that bring us closer to pleasure and further from pain and discomfort. This is dopamine’s role, as it works hard to keep us in a regulated and secure state.

How Dopamine Gets Reinforced

Essential as it is, we can run into issues when we begin to rely on dopamine to fight off emotional discomfort too often. In Anna Lembke’s book, Dopamine Nation, the author describes how dopamine system drives both approach and avoidance behavior.

Have you ever dreaded starting a task and instead found yourself reaching for your comfort food, scrolling on your phone, or turning on the TV?

Although dopamine is primarily known for rewarding us with a feeling of pleasure and joy when we achieve something we desire, it is also capable of cleverly shielding us from experiencing any feelings of pain or discomfort.

Our brains are hardwired to avoid threats by any means, and in today’s world, this can translate over to things like a deadline, meeting the in-laws, or doing the laundry.

This means that dopamine is capable of reinforcing behaviors and actions that allow us to escape a negative feeling.

This is a skill that our brains inherently need but also one that we need to be mindful of because what we consume and do gets saved to our brain’s hard drive every time we do it.

So, when we avoid something stressful, dopamine kicks in, giving us a feeling of relief and security. Unfortunately, this feeling is temporary, and we can very quickly return to discomfort.

This cycle of avoidance can be behaviorally addictive, as it becomes more strongly reinforced the more frequently we do things to avoid pain.

The aftermath? Feelings of anxiety, low-self-worth, emotional dysregulation, and further demotivation.

What Is Dopamine Addiction?

Although it is not currently a formal mental health diagnosis, dopamine addiction is a common way to describe a reliance on dopamine that places us in a cycle of needing continual pleasure and stimulation.

Under the surface, our brains become wired to request and need small boosts of dopamine.

Our brains begin to expect these dopamine boosts, and when they do not occur, we may begin to feel empty, low, distracted, anxious, or depressed.

Our dopamine reliance begins to call the shots. Some examples of dopamine addiction or preoccupation may include:

• Phone Scrolling/Social Media use
• Online shopping
• Eating foods high in fat, sugar, or salt
• Gambling
• Pornography
• Binge-watching TV
• Video Games
• Substance use

Like most things, the more we do something, the faster our bodies and brains lose sensitivity and gain tolerance, and the same goes for dopamine.

This means that over time, it will inevitably take more of the same stimulus to feel the same amount of pleasure or reward it gave us in the past.

This causes us to crave or desire things at an intensified rate over time.

This is also known as dopamine desensitization, and this can cause increased feelings of burnout, boredom, irritability, diminished motivation, and dysregulated mood.

How Dopamine-Seeking Behavior Influences Our Mental Health

Of course, when we perform an adaptive or healthy activity or task, we want our brains to reinforce this behavior.

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For example, when we exercise often or eat healthy foods, we want those habits to become instilled and desired. This is why dopamine exists and how it was intended to function in our brains.

However, when we engage in activities that are being used to escape pain and discomfort and do not support our well-being, our mental health may significantly suffer.

Although at times subtle and unintentional, overreliance on dopamine has created a culture of overstimulation and instant gratification where we find ourselves no longer living with intention, but instead in a constant state of avoidance or even shame.

The issue at hand is that our brains begin to expect high levels of dopamine often. Each time dopamine sends us this message, it leaves us wanting more, creating a dependency cycle.

Once we find ourselves trapped within a dopamine addiction, we begin to act more on impulse, our feelings of joy and pleasure from doing things are weakened, and we can become very easily overwhelmed by stress.

Ways that Dopamine Fixation Can Harm Our Mental Health:

• Impulsivity: With dopamine fixation, we can form unintentional but very strong habits and routines. When this happens, we can lose our agency and find ourselves acting impulsively and engaging in habits such as mindless eating or phone scrolling without even realizing it.

• Distraction and Loss of Focus: When we jump from one dopamine boost to the next often, it becomes harder to focus on more critical tasks. And when we are not receiving a dopamine boost, we may experience brain fog or have extreme difficulty trying to focus, causing us to feel frustrated with ourselves.

• Low Motivation: Compulsive dopamine use can cause other tasks to feel boring or stressful and can diminish long-term motivation. It can cause us to have trouble with starting tasks and managing our time. When we crave a dopamine boost, our long-term goals may suffer.

• Tolerance/Resilience to Stress: Challenging ourselves and learning requires discomfort. Dopamine-seeking and preoccupation draws us into constant feelings of comfort, which can make anything challenging feel impossible to overcome. Tolerance to stress can significantly decrease due to this.

• Anxiety: Anxiety levels increase when we do not have access to the dopamine levels that we crave, and a decreased sense of control in our lives can place us in a state of excessive worry or fear.

• Relaxation/Sleep Issues: Too much stimulation can cause us to struggle with sleep or relaxation and can make it harder for us to calm down or even seek out rest when we need it.

• Emotional Dysregulation or Burnout: Experiencing so much stimulation is very taxing on our bodies and minds. This can leave us feeling drained and our emotions feeling heightened.

• Depression: An unhealthy attachment to instant gratification can cause us to lose sight of what matters to us, causing us to feel low, lost, insecure, and hopeless. Also, because our standard for pleasure and joy becomes heightened, we may lose joy and fulfillment in things that usually make us happy, causing the world around us to feel dull.

Breaking the Cycle: Ways to Fight Addictive Patterns of Dopamine-Seeking Behaviors and Improve Mental Health

Dopamine itself is not addictive. Addiction occurs when our nervous system gets overpowered and reinforced by dopamine-seeking behaviors.

Read More: “How Hormones Impact the Mental Health of Women with ADHD”

If we take some time to recognize these behaviors and understand exactly how they influence our mental well-being, then we can break free from dopamine dependence and take better care of ourselves every day.

If you have been able to identify one or several things that you could consider a dopamine addiction in your life by reading this, just know that you are not alone.

Whether we know it or not, we have all fallen victim to this cycle one way or another. Today’s world makes it impossible not to. This does not mean that we cannot learn to manage our bad habits and find balance.

Take a Break or Limit Your Use

Dopamine fasts are a newly identified way to learn more about our overreliance on dopamine-inducing activities and break the cycle. Take some time to observe yourself and acknowledge when and how you are seeking dopamine in unhealthy ways day by day.

Is it scrolling or gaming for hours? Is it binge-watching TV or sweets?

Check to see how many hours you spend on your phone, bring your awareness to your habits and identify what it may be that you rely on to avoid discomfort.

If you find that you spend five hours each day on your phone, then set the limit to two hours, or something that would feel realistic for yourself, with consideration for your time.

The key is to commit to and try out the newly imposed limit. This may sound difficult, and that’s because it is! If it’s too much to do on your own, finding an accountability app or friend can be helpful.

Replace With Healthier Sources of Dopamine

If you remove or set limits on a dopamine-dependent activity or behavior from your life, it is important to intentionally replace that activity with a healthy habit that promotes mental and physical wellness and aligns with your own values.

For example, instead of online shopping, you take that time to go for a walk, call a close friend, or engage in a hobby or craft that you value and enjoy.

Doing this reinforces healthy behavior while weakening your reliance on others. The goal of this is that, over time, you begin to crave healthy, meaningful things that also give you pleasure!

Be Bored!

We all face trying to fend off feelings of boredom, and boredom is often viewed as a negative thing.

However, setting times in your day when you decisively choose to be bored will allow your brain to reset, encourage creativity and mindfulness, and permit yourself to move with intention while connecting with yourself.

Before you rush off to do the next thing and receive your next dopamine boost, slow down and see what it feels like to be truly present.

Therapy

Receiving mental health support can help you acknowledge and manage your dependence on dopamine-seeking.

Talk with a therapist who can meet you with understanding and work with you to find ways to break free from an unhealthy attachment to instant gratification and improve your overall mental health.

Final thoughts…

Craving constant stimulation disrupts our natural dopamine balance and can take hold of anyone’s life at any time, in many ways.

By rebuilding our habits and giving ourselves the time and space to reset, we are capable of living life the way we desire, not letting our dependencies or impulses run the show.

Be patient with yourself, lean into the present moment, and remember to value your mental health!

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Denver Therapist, Shelby Aronoff

Shelby Aronoff is a Licensed Social Worker in Denver, Colorado.

Through her focused work on supporting women with ADHD, she has become overly familiar with the impact dopamine deficiency and dopamine seeking behaviors can have – and no, it’s not just those with ADHD.

If you’re curious to learn more from Shelby, check out other articles written by her on our Blog.

Reach out through our contact form to schedule a consultation today!