Pleasure and pain balance

In addition to the discovery of dopamine, neuroscientists have determined that pleasure and pain are processed in overlapping brain regions and work via an opponent-process mechanism. Another way to say this is that pleasure and pain work like a balance.

When we experience pleasure, dopamine is released in our reward pathway and the balance tips to the side of pleasure. But here’s the important thing about the balance: It wants to remain level, that is, in equilibrium. It does not want to be tipped for very long to one side or another. Hence, every time the balance tips toward pleasure, powerful self-regulating mechanisms kick into action to bring it level again. The relentless pursuit of pleasure (and avoidance of pain) leads to pain.

With repeated exposure to the same or similar pleasure stimulus, the initial deviation to the side of pleasure gets weaker and shorter and the response to the side of pain gets stronger and longer, a process scientists call neuroadaptation. The paradox is that hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure for its own sake, leads to anhedonia, which is the inability to enjoy pleasure of any kind.

Pressing on the pain side of the balance can lead to its opposite—pleasure. Pressing on the pain side resets our balance to the side of pleasure. Unlike pressing on the pleasure side, the dopamine that comes from pain is indirect and potentially more enduring. Examples are cold shower, hard work rewarded by results and feeling of accomplishment for the day, flow state due to hard work, runners high, exercise,…

With intermittent exposure to pain, our natural hedonic set point gets weighted to the side of pleasure, such that we become less vulnerable to pain and more able to feel pleasure over time.

We can use pain to treat pain. Anxiety to treat anxiety.

Mental health epidemic

There are more people now with mental health disorders than in the history of humankind. What is causing this? How do we fight it? These are the questions that I will be diving into.

What is causing this?

If you just read the above-mentioned three books, you will already see major problems in the modern way of living. We haven’t even mentioned the problems of diet, lack of exercise, unhealthy sex habits, drugs, and other unhealthy habits. I would argue that the root cause of this mental health crisis, but also overall health, is due to an extremely damaging lifestyle.

Depression, for most people, isn’t something you are born with. For everyone who will argue that your genetics play a part, even if it had any substantial impact, I must remind you that those genetics have been “transmitted” by the parents who were also living this unhealthy lifestyle. So the root cause remains the same. Depression is not something you can pick up at a bus stop, like a virus. Rather, it develops gradually and is the reflection of your habits.

How do we fight it?

The approach that is most often taken is medication. I must say that I am highly against this. This to me, in 99% of cases, makes absolutely no sense from a health perspective. If you give someone medication and proceed to never help them get off of it in the future, you have just made an even bigger problem. The solution cannot be delaying depression through medication. You haven’t fixed the problem, you have just reduced the severity by creating new problems; like health deterioration caused by pills.

Also, the habit of identifying yourself as “depressed” or a victim of circumstances is a major problem. And that is exactly what a psychiatrist does. He tells you that you have “depression” as if it is a tangible object, rather than a set of descriptive words. If you go back to the first section Fundamentals of Reality, you will remember that we talked about the power of self-talk and programming. Identifying as being depressed only reinforces your beliefs, and increases the severity through the placebo effect. 

So what is the right way to go about this? It is to change your lifestyle, beliefs, and principles of living completely. That is not easy, but that is why this whole roadmap exists in the first place. I have created it with one vision in mind: To create a step-by-step self-improvement system. Some people may truly need medication to survive. But for the vast majority of people that is not the case. And for everyone, that certainly is not the end. Medication should only be used as a supplement to your self-improvement, and once you become mentally strong enough, you remove it completely.

“Generational guilt” and privilege

One of the big problems plaguing our society is the idea that you should feel guilty for being born in a nice household, in an above-average income family, or having any other kind of privilege. But this idea is just wrong in every way.

If you were lucky enough to be given the life you are given, you shouldn’t waste that potential on feeling guilty. It is actually the worst thing you could do since other people are still less privileged than you, only now you also feel miserable on top of it. Instead of trying to destroy all the advantages you were given in life and wasting your potential, use them to improve other people’s lives. You shouldn’t look to move down to the level of everybody else but rather bring other people up with you.

But let’s assume you still decide to take the path of self-degradation. Even if you tried to “make it right” for everyone, the task is practically impossible and goes against the growth of humankind. Your phones and many other types of electronic devices are made using cheap labor which is similar to slavery and the food that you eat is either killing animals directly (carnivore diet – eating animal meat) or indirectly when spraying for bugs, insects, and rodents (vegan diet – protecting crops).  In order to “be just” towards all the abused workers and animals who are responsible for making your food, phones, and other everyday necessities, you would have to live an ancestral type of life. But even then, you would have to kill animals for food or at the bare minimum in self-defense. And even if you somehow managed to achieve this logically impossible task, you would still not make anybody else’s life better. All you would achieve is make yourself miserable.

So, instead of taking the path of degradation, choose to embrace the privileges you’ve been given, and use them to make the world a better place. We are not born with equal parents, genetics, and other factors that play a major role in quality of life, but what we can do is use our advantages to bring other people up. 

You could never solve world hunger by giving away all of your food until you are starving as well, but you could solve it by inventing some new technology. Yet this other path requires you to be fed enough to think clearly.

Dopamine detox

As we have already mentioned, we live in a world of overstimulation. Social media, video games, coffee, alcohol, porn, and cigarettes are just some of the examples. That is exactly why we need to start a dopamine detox.

I want you to look at your dopamine detox as a lifestyle change, not a 30-day challenge. To do it, there is a simple 2-step process you should implement.

1. 1. Make a list of all instant gratification activities and distractions in your life.
   2. Eliminate them all at once if possible, or gradually.

The only way to get rid of your long-standing addictions is to aim for something more meaningful. You will never stop smoking weed or going out to clubs until you start valuing self-development more than short-term pleasure. I have a very addictive personality, but when it came to having clear skin or eating junk food, I valued clear skin more. Make it very clear what you are giving up on by choosing to live a harmful lifestyle and you will find it much easier to quit bad habits. A good rule of thumb is to always focus on delayed gratification over instant gratification.

Estrogenics

Bellow is an overview of all the main points you should be aware of, when it come to the question of estrogenics.