Dr. Anna Lembke
Psychiatrist / Researcher
Addiction medicine and behavioral neuroscience
About the expert
Focus: Dopamine, addiction, and the neurobiology of compulsive behavior
Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford and chief of the Stanford addiction clinic. Author of Dopamine Nation. Treats and studies the spectrum of compulsive consumption from substances to digital media. Frames addiction through a pleasure-pain balance and a homeostatic view of dopamine.
Why this matters
Stanford psychiatrist with a quarter century of clinical work on addiction. Approaches modern compulsive behaviors (social media, food, pornography, work) through the same dopamine framework she uses for alcohol or opioids. Useful for understanding the mechanism behind everyday over-consumption; treats abstinence and intentional discomfort as legitimate clinical levers.