Compulsive behaviors like sex, exercise or gambling do not downregulate dopamine D2 receptors or produce changes in the brain similar to addictive drugs.

Dopamine D1 receptors mediate desire. The D2 receptors mediate self-control. Addictive drugs downregulate the D2 receptors, inducing the craving and impulsivity of addiction.

The dopamine depletion that decreases mental energy can mean different alterations of the synaptic mechanisms that synthesize, store, release and eliminate dopamine.

Electrodes implanted in the reward pathway do not produce pleasure but craving.

The idea of mental energy makes intuitive sense and is present in mystical traditions. However, there is little evidence that pleasure and sex decrease it.

Pairing a painful stimulus with activation of the amygdala train rats to want the painful stimulus, possibly explaining why masochists desire pain.

Professor Hermes Solenzol was interviewed in the Nicolas Procel Podcast about the dopamine myth prevailing in today’s culture.

The craving that causes suffering is not due to seeking pleasure, but by the demands of the ego.

BDSM induces altered states of consciousness known as sub-space and top-space

Porn is not addictive. It induces short increases of dopamine and not the sustained ones produced by cocaine and opioids.

This coveted state of bliss and euphoria in BDSM scenes may actually be different mental states In the BDSM community, submissive space...