Anna Lembke

At Stanford University School of Medicine, Lembke is professor and medical director of addiction medicine. She is program director of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Fellowship. She also is chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic,^[6] whose mission is to support patients with substance use disorders, behavioral addictions, and co-occurring psychiatric disorders.^[7]

Lembke wrote the popular science book, Drug Dealer, MD. Her clinical research has received numerous awards. She has published more than a hundred professional papers, authored many commentaries and book chapters, traveled around the United States giving lectures, and delivered expert testimony to legislators.^[8] She delivered a TED talk on the opioid epidemic and pain management at TEDx Stanford.^[9]

Lembke has studied addiction in relation to substances such as drugs and alcohol, but she has taken special interest in addictions to smartphones and other technology.^[10] Lembke believed COVID-19 brought on a cultural shift that not only increased awareness towards addiction as a whole, but specifically in regards to digital and social media.^[11] Although smartphone and technology "addictions" are not currently recognized as formal clinical disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) or in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10 and ICD-11),^{[12][13][14][15][16]} Lembke believes that smartphones are not only addictive on their own, but she purports that smartphones may exacerbate the problems of other addiction behaviors by increasing access and social contagion.^[10] Lembke believes that digital media, like video games or online pornography, can create the same dopamine release as drug or alcohol use which reinforces the behavior.^[17] Lembke appeared in the 2020 Netflix docudrama The Social Dilemma, in which she argued that "social media is a drug" that exploits the brain's evolutionary need for interpersonal connection.^[18] Lembke's children also appeared in the film, and family members commented that they believe most people significantly underestimate their screen time.^[19] Lembke argues that dopamine is important to the brain, but drugs (including digital media usage) short-circuits the process to receiving dopamine.^[20] She appears on Dr. Peter Attia's podcast to explain these concepts in depth.^[21]

While Dr. Lembke's perspective from an addictions standpoint is clear, other neuroscientists worry that her strictly anti-dopamine stance inadvertently gives the message that some medications for ADHD are overused, or should not be used at all, in contradiction to established scientific evidence.^[22]

• Lembke, Anna (2012-10-25). "Why Doctors Prescribe Opioids to Known Opioid Abusers". New England Journal of Medicine. 367 (17): 1580–1581. doi:10.1056/NEJMp1208498. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 23094719.
• Lembke, Anna (2016). Drug Dealer, MD | Johns Hopkins University Press Books. jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu. doi:10.56021/9781421421407. ISBN 9781421421414. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
• Lembke, Anna; Papac, Jennifer; Humphreys, Keith (2018-02-22). "Our Other Prescription Drug Problem". The New England Journal of Medicine. 378 (8): 693–695. doi:10.1056/NEJMp1715050. ISSN 1533-4406. PMID 29466163.
• Lembke, Anna. Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (2021). Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 9781524746728.