EP 3:57 The Neuroscience of Addiction with Dr. Nicole Labor

Send us Fan Mail Supplemental Study Guide: https://www.recoveryalchemy.org/newsletters/blog/posts/neuroscience Season 3 of The AfterMeth Podcast is the season of big names, and Dallas Bragg lands one of the biggest in addiction education: Dr. Nicole Labor, addiction medicine physician, author of The Addictoholic Deconstructed, self-described sweary godmother, and a person in long-term recovery whose reels on the science of addiction have reached millions. Dallas discovered her through her chemsex reel (still her most-watched ever), read her book, and now recommends it to every client because it finally made the neuroscience click. In this conversation, Nicole explains why addiction is a disease, introduces her brand-new baseball-field metaphor for dopamine and receptor downregulation, and unpacks glutamate, the “executive assistant to dopamine” that files meth, sex, Grindr, porn, a room, and a time of night into one learned network that any single cue can switch on. The second half gets practical in ways chemsex recovery rarely does. Nicole explains why cravings negotiate rather than announce themselves (“I’m just checking who’s on”), why the addicted brain only has to convince you to take the next step, and why interrupting the loop with something as simple as cold water or thirty seconds of jumping still counts even if you use afterward. She and Dallas cover why sneaking and lying get stamped as rewarding, why sex addiction and Grindr scrolling are addiction all the same, how to “dopamine stack” your way out of the flat, gray early months, and why a two-week slip after six months clean leaves you with seven months, not zero. Her closing instruction for anyone in early recovery: get in the lifeboat first. You can figure out what to do on shore once you get there. Contact Dr. Nicole Labor: Instragram: https://www.instagram.com/theaddictsdoc/ The AfterMeth: Join our Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theaftermeth/ Dallas Bragg Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: https://www.drdallasbragg.com/newsletters/blog Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drdallasbragg Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drdallasbragg/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drdallasbragg YouTube: The Aftermeth Podcast X: https://twitter.com/Drdallasbragg Free online course to End the Relapse Cycle: https://www.drdallasbragg.com/offers/e7c2Eo22/checkout Meth-Free Blueprint EBOOK: https://www.drdallasbragg.com/offers/o8qFhK5i/checkout