Why Doesn't Chasing Rewards Bring More Pleasure?

Anna Lembke says bombarding the reward pathway with highly reinforcing substances and behaviors does not bring more pleasure. It brings the opposite. The joy set point changes, and mood and the baseline capacity for pleasure tilt toward pain. Over time a person needs more of a drug of choice to feel any pleasure at all.

She was answering what she would change in California public schools, and teaching that neuroscience is the first change. She also described young men who are not entering the job market, a growing number at home on video games and social media, missing the milestones of those ages. The statistics bear that picture out.