Dopamine
Dopamine is a catecholamine central to motivation, reward learning, and movement. Its mesolimbic pathway encodes reward prediction and drives goal-directed behavior — the circuit hijacked in addiction — while the nigrostriatal pathway enables smooth voluntary movement and degenerates in Parkinson’s disease. In the prefrontal cortex it supports working memory and executive function; dysregulation is implicated in schizophrenia and ADHD.
Too little may be associated with
Parkinson's disease, depression, ADHD
Too much may be associated with
Psychosis, schizophrenia symptoms, addiction
Informational only — not medical advice.
Stimuli that influence it
Functions
- Adaptation
- Arousal
- Attention
- Attention Switching
- Behavioral Control
- Cognitive Flexibility
- Communication
- Coordination
- Creativity
- Decision Evaluation
- Decision Making
- Emotion Processing
- Error Detection
- Executive Function
- Goal Setting
- Habit Formation
- Hormone Regulation
- Imagination
- Impulse Control
- Language Acquisition
- Learning
- Mathematical Reasoning
- Memory
- Motivation
- Motor Control
- Motor Learning
- Music Perception
- Organization
- Pattern Recognition
- Planning
- Prediction
- Prioritization
- Problem Solving
- Reasoning
- Reward Processing
- Risk Assessment
- Self-Control
- Sexual Behavior
- Skill Acquisition
- Speech Production
- Theory of Mind
- Time Perception
- Voluntary Movement
- Working Memory
Dysfunctions
- Addiction
- Antisocial Personality Disorder
- Depression
- Histrionic Personality Disorder
- Huntington's Disease
- Narcissistic Personality Disorder
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Paranoid Personality Disorder
- Parkinson's Disease
- Schizoid Personality Disorder
- Schizotypal Personality Disorder
Substances
- Alcohol (↑)(HARMFUL)
- Amphetamine (↑)(HARMFUL)
- Caffeine (↑)
- Cannabis / Marijuana / THC (↑)(HARMFUL)
- Chocolate (dark) (↑)
- Cocaine (↑)(HARMFUL)
- Curcumin (↑)
- Fish oil (↑)
- Folate (↑)
- Food (↑)
- Ginkgo biloba (↑)
- Green Tea (↑)
- Ketamine (↑)
- L-theanine (↑)
- LSD (↑)
- MDMA (↑)(HARMFUL)
- Methadone (↑)
- Methylphenidate (↑)
- Mucuna pruriens (↑)
- Nicotine (↑)(HARMFUL)
- Omega-3 fatty acids (↑)
- Opioids (↑)(HARMFUL)
- Phenylalanine (↑)
- Psilocybin (↑)
- Rhodiola (↑)
- Rhodiola rosea (↑)
- Saffron (↑)
- SAM-e (S-Adenosylmethionine) (↑)
- Suboxone (↑)
- Tyrosine (↑)
- Uridine (↑)
- Vitamin B12 (↑)
- Vitamin B6 (↑)
- Vitamin D (↑)
- Benzodiazepines (↕)(HARMFUL)
- Creatine (↕)
Behaviors
- Achieving a goal (↑)
- Acts of kindness (↑)
- Adventure sports (↑)
- Aerobic exercise (↑)
- Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (↑)
- Breastfeeding (↑)
- Cold exposure (↑)
- Cold shower (↑)
- Competition (↑)
- Creative art (↑)
- Cycling (↑)
- Dancing (↑)
- Doomscrolling (↑)
- Fasting (short-term) (↑)
- Flow state (↑)
- Gambling (↑)
- Gratitude journaling (↑)
- Helping others (↑)
- High-intensity interval training (HIIT) (↑)
- Hugging (↑)
- Intermittent fasting (↑)
- Kissing (↑)
- Laughing (↑)
- Laughter with friends (↑)
- Learning something new (↑)
- Listening to favorite music (↑)
- Massage (↑)
- Meditation (↑)
- Morning bright light (↑)
- Nature exposure (↑)
- Novel experiences (↑)
- Painting (↑)
- Petting a dog or cat (↑)
- Playing music (↑)
- Pornography (↑)
- Positive anticipation (↑)
- Prayer (↑)
- Reading enjoyable books (↑)
- Receiving praise (↑)
- Resistance training (↑)
- Running (↑)
- Sex (↑)
- Singing (↑)
- Social bonding (↑)
- Solving puzzles (↑)
- Swimming (↑)
- Video games (↑)
- Visualization (↑)
- Volunteering (↑)
- Walking outdoors (↑)
- Winning a game (↑)
- Writing (↑)
- Yoga (↑)
Books (244)
A First-Rate Madness
A Gentle Path through the Twelve Steps
A Primate's Memoir
A User's Guide to the Brain
Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas
Affective Neuroscience
Alcohol Explained
Alcohol Lied to Me: The Intelligent Way to Escape Alcohol Addiction
Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book 4th Edition
Allen Carr's Easy Way to Quit Cocaine
Altered Traits
An Unquiet Mind
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Applied Imagination
Arousal
Awakenings
Aware
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
Behavioral self-control
Beyond the Influence: Understanding and Defeating Alcoholism
Blow: How a Small-Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellín Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All
Podcasts
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- Adventures Through The Mind
Long-form conversations on psychedelics and consciousness.
- All In The Mind
ABC RN's exploration of the mind, brain, and human behavior.
- ALL IN: The Addicted Gambler's Podcast | The Original Gambling Addiction Podcast
Stories and support for recovery from gambling addiction.
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- Ask the Unfaithful
Candid conversations about infidelity, affair recovery, and rebuilding trust and intimacy in relationships.
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- Attitudes of sexual integrity! Freedom from porn and sex compulsions! Addiction Recovery [Sex] Mode!
Guidance and stories on recovering from sex addiction.
![Attitudes of sexual integrity! Freedom from porn and sex compulsions! Addiction Recovery [Sex] Mode! logo](https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts125/v4/54/fb/45/54fb45c1-ad9f-08fd-749e-38d53d07654f/mza_6616039506220882125.jpg/600x600bb.jpg)
- Betrayal Trauma Recovery
Support for partners affected by a loved one’s compulsive sexual behavior.
- Brain Inspired
Where neuroscience and AI meet — how brains and minds compute.
- Brain over Binge Podcast
Kathryn Hansen on stopping binge eating using a brain-based approach.
- Brain Science with Ginger Campbell, MD: Neuroscience for Everyone
Dr. Ginger Campbell on how recent neuroscience explains the mind.
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- Couples Healing From Pornography Addiction
Marnie Breecker on healing relationships after sex-addiction betrayal.
- Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction
Raw, honest stories of drug addiction and recovery.
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- Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais
Performance psychologist Michael Gervais on the psychology of high performance.
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- Flow Research Collective Radio
Conversations on the neuroscience of flow and peak performance.
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- Hidden Brain
Shankar Vedantam on the unconscious patterns that drive behavior.
- Huberman Lab
Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman on physiology, stress, sleep, and self-regulation.
- Losing 100 Pounds with Corinne, Weightloss for Women
Corinne Crabtree on overeating, food habits, and weight loss.
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- Porn Free Radio
Matt Dobschuetz on quitting pornography and compulsive sexual behavior.
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- Psychedelic Medicine Podcast with Dr. Lynn Marie Morski
Clinical conversations on the medical use of psychedelics.
- Psychedelics Today
Interviews and news across psychedelic science, therapy, and culture.
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- Sex Addicted Christian
Understanding compulsive sexual behavior and the path to recovery.
- Sex, Love, and Addiction
Dr. Rob Weiss on sex addiction, porn addiction, and intimacy disorders.
- Sober Powered: The Neuroscience of Being Sober
Gill Tietz on the neuroscience of alcohol and why quitting is hard.
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- Take 12 Recovery Radio Network
Monty Reece interviews people in recovery from addiction.
- The Addicted Mind Podcast
Conversations on addiction, recovery, and the science behind them.
- The After Gambling Podcast
Conversations on recovery from gambling addiction.
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- The Naked Truth with Lauren
Conversations on recovery from sex, porn, and love addiction.
- The Neuro Experience
Louisa Nicola on brain performance, longevity, and human optimization.
- The One You Feed | Personal Growth, Emotional Resilience & Purpose
Practical wisdom for building better habits and mental health.
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- The Rich Roll Podcast
Deep conversations on wellness, recovery, and personal transformation.
- The Science of Happiness
Research-tested strategies for a happier, more meaningful life.
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- This Naked Mind Podcast
Annie Grace on rethinking your relationship with alcohol.
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- We Do Science (Institute of Performance Nutrition)
The Institute of Performance Nutrition's podcast on the science of sports nutrition, hosted by Dr. Laurent Bannock.
Research (694)
- Assessment of diverse deep brain stimulation targets uncovers a common neural pathway for instantaneous antidepressant effects in rats Liu et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Atropine reinstates inflammation-induced dysregulation of dopamine and its receptors in human scleral cells: Implications for myopia therapy Shivakumar et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Dopamine receptors in ocular surface biology: Current evidence and future directions Shivakumar et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- The efficacy of Boswellic acid on behavioral dysfunctions and dopamine transporter (DAT) expression and protein levels in the prefrontal cortex of both sexes of rats exposed to social isolation Vaseghi et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Bioengineered Silicon-Doped Graphdiyne Conjugated with Amino Acid Derivatives for Levodopa Delivery: A DFT-Based Nanoplatform Ramesh et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Dopamine transporter and beyond: evolving targets and combination strategies in stimulant use disorder de et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Harnessing Thermoelectric-Mediated Photoelectrochemical System to Address Sensitive Dopamine Detection via APE1-Amplified Triple-Helix Switching Zhang et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Subacute Exposure to Macrocyclic Lactone Insecticides Induces Parkinson's Disease-like Motor Deficits and Neuropathology in Mice Xiao et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- "To Bean or Not to Bean": Therein lie the hype and the hope. Advice to people with Parkinson in my clinic about Mucuna pruriens Cilia et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- A single Citrobacter rodentium infection in Pink1 knockout and wild-type mice leads to regional blood-brain-barrier perturbation and limited microglial activation without dopamine neuron axon terminal loss Mukherjee et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- The oscillatory biology of sleep: Linkage to dementia Nedergaard (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- High intensity interval training for Parkinson's disease: A scoping review of systemic effects and physiological adaptations Sivaramakrishnan et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Painting dopamine in far-red: a chemigenetic breakthrough Zhang et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Diagnosis and Management of Resistant Hypertension: A Review Azizi et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
- Medications for Opioid Use Disorder, Opioid Withdrawal, and Opioid Overdose: A Review Harris et al. (2026) Full text ↗ PubMed ↗
Links
- 0 Creatine for Mental Health — Psychiatry & Psychotherapy Podcast (Ep. 238)
- 0 Creatine, Cognition & Brain Health — with Dr. Darren Candow
- 0 Dopamine — Wikipedia
- 0 We Do Science Ep. 187: Creatine Beyond Strength and Power
- 0 Wikipedia: Adaptation
- 0 Wikipedia: Addiction
- 0 Wikipedia: Antisocial personality disorder
- 0 Wikipedia: Arousal
- 0 Wikipedia: Attention
- 0 Wikipedia: Chicago P.D. season 13
- 0 Wikipedia: Communication
- 0 Wikipedia: Creativity
- 0 Wikipedia: Decision-making
- 0 Wikipedia: Error detection and correction
- 0 Wikipedia: Huntington's disease
- 0 Wikipedia: Imagination
- 0 Wikipedia: Language acquisition
- 0 Wikipedia: Learning
- 0 Wikipedia: Memory
- 0 Wikipedia: Motivation
- 0 Wikipedia: Motor control
- 0 Wikipedia: Music Perception
- 0 Wikipedia: Obsessive–compulsive disorder
- 0 Wikipedia: Organization
- 0 Wikipedia: Parkinson's disease
- 0 Wikipedia: Pattern recognition
- 0 Wikipedia: Planning
- 0 Wikipedia: Prediction
- 0 Wikipedia: Prioritization
- 0 Wikipedia: Problem solving
- 0 Wikipedia: Reason
- 0 Wikipedia: Risk assessment
- 0 Wikipedia: Schizotypal personality disorder
- 0 Wikipedia: Theory of mind
- 0 Wikipedia: Time perception
- 0 Wikipedia: Working memory
- 0 Your Brain On Creatine
Recovery resources
For stimuli that influence Dopamine. Not medical advice — see all recovery resources.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US) · crisis
☎ 988Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · crisis
☎ 741741National Problem Gambling Helpline · crisis
SAMHSA National Helpline (US) · crisis
Adult Children of Alcoholics & Dysfunctional Families (ACA/ACoA) · family & friends support
Al-Anon Family Groups · family & friends support
Co-Anon Family Groups · family & friends support
COSA · family & friends support
CoSLAA · family & friends support
Families Anonymous (FA) · family & friends support
Gam-Anon · family & friends support
Nar-Anon Family Groups · family & friends support
- Celebrate Recovery · general recovery
SMART Recovery · general recovery
Dual Recovery Anonymous (DRA) · mental & emotional health
- Emotional Health Anonymous (EHA) · mental & emotional health
Emotions Anonymous (EA) · mental & emotional health
Compulsive Eaters Anonymous - HOW (CEA-HOW) · process addiction
Food Addicts Anonymous (FAA) · process addiction
- Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA) · process addiction
Gamblers Anonymous (GA) · process addiction
Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous (ITAA) · process addiction
Online Gamers Anonymous (OLGA) · process addiction
Overeaters Anonymous (OA) · process addiction
Porn Addicts Anonymous (PAA) · process addiction
Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA) · process addiction
Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA) · process addiction
Sex and Porn Addicts Anonymous (SPAA) · process addiction
Sexaholics Anonymous (SA) · process addiction
Sexual Compulsives Anonymous (SCA) · process addiction
- Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) · substance abuse
Cocaine Anonymous (CA) · substance abuse
Crystal Meth Anonymous (CMA) · substance abuse
Heroin Anonymous (HA) · substance abuse
- Marijuana Anonymous (MA) · substance abuse
- Methamphetamine Anonymous · substance abuse
Narcotics Anonymous (NA) · substance abuse
Nicotine Anonymous (NicA) · substance abuse
- Pills Anonymous (PA) · substance abuse