Buddhist Neuroscientist On: How To Quit Bad Habits And Why You're Not Keeping Your Resolutions | Dr. Judson Brewer
Dr. Judson Brewer, a Brown University professor and mindfulness expert, discusses using innate mindfulness to address everyday addictions, defining addiction broadly and introducing his "Mindshift Method" for breaking habits through awareness, curiosity, and finding "bigger, better offers."
Deep Dive Analysis
17 Topic Outline
Defining Addiction Broadly for Everyday Habits
The Brain's Wiring for Craving and Modern Exploitation
Scientific and Buddhist Views on Addiction: A Convergence
Dependent Origination and the Cycle of Suffering
Dukkha and Sukha: Contracted vs. Expanded Experience
Dopamine: The Motivation Molecule, Not Pleasure
Critique of Dopamine Fasting as a Habit-Breaking Strategy
The Mindshift Method: Three Gears for Habit Change
Curiosity as a Superpower for Engaging with Experience
Why 'Mindfulness' Can Be a Confusing Term
Two Types of Curiosity: Deprivation vs. Interest
The Ineffectiveness of Willpower in Breaking Habits
Applying the Mindshift Method to Self-Judgment
Impact of Stress on Behavior Change and Learning
The Role of Resilience and Community in Overcoming Addiction
A Debate: Is There Such a Thing as Healthy Anger?
Mindshift Recovery: A New Nonprofit for Addiction Support
8 Key Concepts
Addiction (broad sense)
Defined as continued use despite adverse consequences, this term extends beyond severe substance abuse to include everyday habits like phone scrolling, excessive shopping, or over-consumption of alcohol or coffee. It exists on a continuum, affecting nearly everyone in some form.
Dependent Origination
A Buddhist concept describing the causal nature of experience, where phenomena arise in dependence upon other phenomena. In the context of addiction, it illustrates how craving leads to clinging, perpetuating a cycle of suffering (samsara) if one remains caught in it.
Dukkha
Often translated as suffering or unsatisfactoriness, Dr. Brewer suggests a more pragmatic understanding as 'contracted space.' This refers to an inward turning or tightening, like being 'wrapped up in your shit,' which is a direct experience of suffering.
Sukha
Not the opposite of dukkha, but rather the 'negation of contraction' or 'uncontracting.' It represents an expanded state of experience, akin to bliss or happiness, achieved by letting go of the tightness and self-absorption associated with dukkha.
Dopamine
A primary learning and motivation molecule in the brain, not a pleasure molecule. It fires in response to surprise, then shifts to anticipation, driving us to seek rewards and eventually forming habits. Blocking dopamine blocks learning.
Deprivation Curiosity
A type of curiosity driven by the discomfort or 'pain' of not knowing, pushing an individual towards a specific destination or piece of information. It's a survival mechanism, as animals will even forego food and drink for information.
Interest Curiosity
The joy of discovery itself, without a particular destination in mind. This type of curiosity feels expansive and is not born from a deprived state, exemplified by a baby exploring its own hand or the pure joy of learning.
Willpower
A concept that is not recognized in neuroscience as a variable for behavior change. It is described as a story people tell themselves, often leading to temporary success followed by failure, guilt, and shame, rather than sustainable habit transformation.
9 Questions Answered
Addiction is defined as continued use despite adverse consequences, encompassing everyday habits like phone scrolling, shopping, or excessive alcohol/coffee consumption, existing on a continuum rather than as an all-or-nothing state.
Dr. Brewer's research has found no differences or discrepancies between the scientific and Buddhist views on addiction, with Buddhist concepts like 'exploring gratification to its end' proving to be scientifically accurate and effective in modern studies.
By paying close attention to the actual results and consequences of an unskillful behavior, its reward value drops below zero, leading to disenchantment and a natural cessation of the behavior over time.
No, dopamine is a motivation molecule, not a pleasure molecule. It is critical for learning and driving behavior, firing in response to surprise and anticipation, but it does not directly produce the sensation of pleasure.
No, dopamine fasting is not an effective approach to habit change from a neuroscience perspective. It's not truly possible to stop dopamine firing, and simply depriving oneself of addictive behaviors without addressing the underlying learning process will likely lead to misery and eventual relapse.
Willpower is not a variable in behavior change equations; it's a story we tell ourselves. Relying on willpower often leads to temporary success followed by failure, guilt, and shame because it doesn't address the fundamental learning mechanisms of habit formation.
Chronic psychological stress creates a 'contracted space' or a fixed mindset, which closes off the organism to learning. In this state, the brain reverts to old, habitual ways of responding, making it difficult to learn new, adaptive behaviors.
Community and social connection are profoundly critical, not just for longevity and quality of life, but also directly for helping people overcome addiction and build resilience against external stressors, as highlighted by both Buddhist psychology and modern research.
Dr. Brewer hypothesizes that there is no healthy anger. While anger can motivate action, it narrows one's perspective ('blinded by rage') and prevents open, skillful problem-solving, making compassion a more effective and expansive alternative for driving change.
30 Actionable Insights
1. Use Mindfulness for Addictions
Leverage your innate capacity for mindfulness to reduce or eliminate everyday addictions like phone scrolling, shopping, or excessive coffee consumption, as everyone has a craving mind.
2. Map Your Habit Loops
Identify the behavior you’re struggling with and map out its habit loop by focusing on the behavior itself and its immediate result or reward, as this critical link sustains the habit.
3. Ask “What Am I Getting?”
For any unskillful behavior, ask yourself, “What am I getting from this?” to pay attention to the actual reward value and become disenchanted if it’s not truly rewarding.
4. Find Bigger, Better Offers
After becoming disenchanted with unhelpful behaviors, actively seek out “bigger, better offers”—intrinsically rewarding and always available alternatives—to fill the space left by old habits.
5. Substitute Curiosity for Craving
When a craving arises, instead of resisting or succumbing, get curious about what the craving or urge feels like in your body, using curiosity as an intrinsically rewarding alternative.
6. Ride Craving with Curiosity
Use curiosity to observe cravings as they arise, knowing that they are impermanent and will naturally intensify, then lessen, and eventually pass if you simply stay with the experience without acting on it.
7. Explore Gratification to Its End
To break an addiction, pay close attention to the actual experience and results of the behavior (e.g., smoking a cigarette). This process of “exploring gratification to its end” can lead to disenchantment and significantly higher quit rates.
8. Stop Fueling Cravings
Understand that cravings will diminish over time if you stop engaging in the behavior that fuels them, as each instance of the behavior provides fuel for future craving.
9. Abandon Willpower Reliance
Do not rely on willpower to break habits or achieve goals, as it’s not an effective long-term strategy and can lead to guilt and shame when it inevitably fails.
10. Prioritize Body Awareness
Recognize that the “feeling body” holds more power than the “thinking brain” in habit change, so tune into physical sensations and emotions to understand and shift behaviors.
11. Recognize Contracted States
Identify when you are experiencing “dukkha” or contracted space (feeling tight, wrapped up in your issues), as this is a clear indicator of suffering, and its negation (sukha) is a state of uncontracting.
12. Avoid Contracting Around Reality
Understand that suffering often arises from contracting around or resisting the way things are, rather than from the external reality itself.
13. Cultivate Self-Compassion
As a “bigger, better offer,” actively explore what kindness and self-compassion feel like, comparing it to the unpleasantness of self-judgment, as your brain will naturally choose what feels better.
14. Address Self-Judgment Habits
Apply the three-gear method to self-judgment: identify the habit of self-criticism, notice the unpleasant physical and emotional results of beating yourself up, and become disenchanted with it.
15. Reduce Stress for Learning
Understand that chronic stress puts your brain in a “fixed mindset” where it reverts to old habits and is unable to learn new behaviors, making it crucial to reduce stress to foster openness and growth.
16. Physically Release Acute Stress
After experiencing acute physiological stress (fight or flight), engage in physical release like shaking or dancing to help your body shift out of stress mode, similar to how animals adaptively “shake it off.”
17. Avoid Taking Things Personally
To reduce suffering and increase resilience, practice not taking things personally, as this often leads to contraction and prevents effective action.
18. Repurpose Energy for Change
Cultivate resilience to repurpose energy that might otherwise be drained by external stressors (like prejudice) into making systemic change, rather than letting it be “sucked from us.”
19. Prioritize Community Connection
Recognize that community and social connection are “the whole of the holy life” and are critically important for not just longevity, but also for quality living and overcoming addictions.
20. Seek Peer Mentorship
For addiction recovery, engage in peer mentorship programs, as community and trained peer support are critical components for effective habit change and recovery.
21. Mentors: Speak from Experience
If acting as a peer mentor, focus on sharing your own experience rather than giving advice, and establish clear boundaries to avoid taking on excessive burdens.
22. Reconsider “Healthy Anger”
Challenge the concept of “healthy anger,” as anger is a contracted state that narrows focus, prevents seeking new information, and is generally not the most skillful way to affect change.
23. Act from Compassion
When motivated to act, choose compassion over anger, as compassion is an expansive, selfless state that drives effective action without the suffering that often accompanies anger, which is typically self-focused.
24. Choose Compassionate Action
When seeking to affect change, prioritize an open, compassionate response that asks “what’s the most skillful thing to do right now?” over a narrow, anger-driven approach.
25. Notice Intrinsic Rewards
When performing skillful behaviors like kindness, pay attention to the intrinsic good feeling it generates, as this positive reinforcement will make you more likely to repeat the behavior.
26. Seek Lasting Happiness
Understand that lasting happiness does not come from satisfying sense desires, as even abundant external rewards will be fleeting and can perpetuate a cycle of wanting more.
27. Differentiate Curiosity Types
Recognize two types of curiosity: “deprivation curiosity” (seeking information to fill a gap) which can feel uncomfortable and “interest curiosity” (the joy of discovery) which feels expansive and is about enjoying the journey.
28. Use Experiential Language
When discussing mental states or practices, prioritize clear, experiential terms like “curiosity” and “awareness” over potentially confusing or vague terms like “mindfulness.”
29. Explore Causal Nature of Experience
Understand the causal nature of your experiences and how “this exists because of this” (dependent origination) to gain deeper insight into your habits and suffering.
30. Avoid Dopamine Fasting
Do not engage in “dopamine fasting” as a method to break habits, as it is not supported by neuroscience, doesn’t effectively change behavior, and will likely only lead to misery.
5 Key Quotes
continued use despite adverse consequences.
Dr. Judson Brewer
Dopamine is not a pleasure molecule. It is a motivation molecule.
Dr. Judson Brewer
The body, the feeling body is much stronger than the thinking brain, as much as the thinking brain likes to take credit for everything.
Dr. Judson Brewer
Ananda, the Buddha's cousin in attendance says, you know, basically, hey, you know, community is half of the holy life. And you probably know this one, the Buddha says, don't say that, don't say that, Ananda, it is the whole of the holy life, right?
Dr. Judson Brewer
anger gets us running at things, but it might be a brick wall as compared to compassion, which helps find the door, right? The doorway through.
Dr. Judson Brewer
1 Protocols
Mindshift Method for Habit Change
Dr. Judson Brewer- Identify the specific behavior you are struggling with (e.g., compulsive shopping, internet porn, excessive drinking) and map out its core elements: the trigger, the behavior, and the result/reward.
- Shift into 'second gear' by asking yourself, 'What am I getting from this?' Pay close attention to the actual results and consequences of the behavior in your body and mind. Notice if it's truly rewarding or if it leads to adverse outcomes, fostering disenchantment.
- Shift into 'third gear' by finding a 'bigger, better offer.' When disenchanted with an unhelpful behavior, substitute it with an intrinsically rewarding and always available alternative, such as getting curious about the craving itself, which helps relax contraction and empowers you to ride the urge until it passes.