DEEP DIVE · CHAPTER 23
The Lonely Striatum
Loneliness changes the reward system: after enough isolation, the brain answers other people the way a hungry brain answers food. The Chapter 23 Deep Dive lays out that evidence, why most Vietnam veterans stopped once they were home, and what the famous rat colony studies did and did not find.
Keep a perfectly ordinary person alone for ten hours and their brain starts answering the sight of other people the way a hungry brain answers food. I will show you what isolation actually does to the reward system, why the Vietnam veterans who came home mostly stopped, and why the famous rat colony slogan is not what those experiments found. Then I will tell you exactly what I now put in a patient’s plan because of it.
18 pages · 26 references, every one verified · written by Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP
Watch Chapter 23
The chapter on video — the same argument, with the figures and the studies on screen as they come up.
The receipts behind Chapter 23
The book makes the argument. This Deep Dive shows the evidence, claim by claim: the study, who was in it, the number and where it sits in the paper, what it does not show — and the questions to bring to your own physician. It is written to be shared with your doctor.
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Frequently asked questions
What happens if a person is lonely for too long?
The reward system changes. Keep an ordinary person alone for ten hours and their brain starts answering the sight of other people the way a hungry brain answers food. Chapter 23 of The Dopamine Brain lays out that evidence and what it means for addiction.
Is loneliness linked to addiction?
Chapter 23 makes the case that it is. Isolation changes the reward system itself. The chapter also explains why most Vietnam veterans who came home stopped using, and the Deep Dive sets out what Dr. Padda now puts in a patient’s plan because of that evidence.
What did the rat colony addiction studies actually find?
Not what the famous slogan says. The rat colony experiments are famous, and the slogan built on them is not what they found. The Chapter 23 Deep Dive goes through what those experiments did and did not find, with 26 references, each one verified, and what each study cannot show.
