Episode · Huberman Lab · 2025-04-21
Books mentioned on Tools for Overcoming Substance & Behavioral Addictions | Ryan Soave
My guest is Ryan Soave, LMHC, a leading expert in addiction recovery with extensive experience helping people heal from all types of substance and behavioral dependencies. We discuss actionable tools for breaking out of the addictive cycle and staying free of obsessions and compulsions.
Andrew Huberman recommended Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke and others and The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter. Ryan Soave discussed Disease Concept of Alcoholism by E. M. Jellinek.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
-
Dopamine Nation
Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke, MD is a contemporary masterpiece written by a Stanford medical school professor and psychiatrist that examines the biological and psychological roots of addiction, abundance, and compulsive behaviors in modern society.
Recommended“thank goodness uh Anna author of Dopamine Nation made so clear that those big fast inflections in dopamine very quickly lead to smaller and smaller peaks in dopamine from the same behavior or substance”
Where to get it
-
Disease Concept of Alcoholism
Discussed“Emelick, he was at at Stanford for a bit, the end of his career. and he had done a lot of research on alcoholism and I wrote a book in the ' 50s or 60s called the disease concept of alcoholism and out of that book there was a curve and you can look this up it's called the gel”
Where to get it
-
The Comfort Crisis
The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter is an exploration of how modern comforts and sedentary lifestyles negatively impact human health and well-being, advocating for the intentional reintegration of physical challenges.
Recommended“You know, I mean, Michael Easter's book Comfort Crisis is great. You know, it's it's like, you know, we used to walk like 10 miles a day and, you know, we're not burning that energy.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“Somebody wrote a book called I think it was it Dr. Gold 1800 cocaine where they were starting to see that we could classify addiction as a psychological addiction.”
“For those of you that haven't heard, I have a new book coming out. It's my very first book. It's entitled Protocols, an operating manual for the human body.”