• Skip to content

Addiction Support Podcast

Addiction Education and Support for Family & Friends

  • Podcast
  • About
  • Contact Us

December 17, 2015 By Melissa Sue Tucker

ASP 005: Happy Chemicals Dopamine, Endorphin, Oxytocin, & Serotonin w/ Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD

Loretta Breuning Happy Chemicals

Click Here to check out this week’s contest & win a free copy of Habits of a Happy Brain.

Overview:

My guest this week, Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD, is the author of Habits of a Happy Brain.  I was reading an earlier version of this book (which she self-published) and was excited by how simple and easy she breaks down our emotions and emotional responses based on our neurochemicals.

Loretta shares clearly & simply how to take care of and understand emotions. She explains the roles that dopamine, endorphin, oxytocin, & serotonin play in our happiness, and what we can do to feel more happiness.

Listen as Loretta shares how to take care of and understand your own emotions.  How to lovingly take care of yourself while being in relationship with someone who has an addiction.  We even get into a discussion on how to best parent our children to help them learn how to feel self-sufficient and happy.

I had a lot of “ah ha’s” when I read this book.  It takes the “woo-woo” and touchy-feely-ness out of emotions and breaks them down to a very basic, survival level which is awesome if you want to better understand yourself or others.  It’s also really helpful if you have someone in your life who you want to feel closer to but who might not necessarily want to talk about their emotions.

Loretta says,

Happiness comes from brain chemicals that all mammals have in common. When you know how serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin affect animals, human impulses make sense. Our happy chemicals evolved to reward survival behaviors – not to make us feel good all the time. But you can feel good more often when you understand nature’s operating system. The IMI has all the resources you need to make peace with your inner mammal: books, video training, slideshows, and blogs. It’s not easy being mammal, but you can find your power over the quirky brain we’ve inherited.

Resources:

Inner Mammal Institute

Make sure you check out her Free Stuff and sign up for her “5-Day Happy Chemical Jumpstart Guide”!

I highly recommend you pick up a copy of Loretta’s book – Habits of a Happy Brain!

Habits of a Happy Brain

Addiction Support Podcast Newsletter

Thank you for Listening!

Thank you so much for joining me this week. Have some thoughts you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The Addiction Support Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, help more people find us, and I read each and every one of them.

If you would like to email me, head on over to OakCreekWellness.com/contact.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates.

Special thanks to Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD for joining me this week.  Until next time!

Comments

comments

Related posts:

  1. ASP 004: 4 Easy Nutrition Tips for More Happiness from Terra Rose Ganem of Body Brilliance
  2. ASP 006: Our Deepest Fear and Happy New Year!
  3. More Health, Happiness, Peace, Money | The Abundance Book Project with Derek Rydall
  4. ASP018: Amanda is celebrating a happy, healthy life and 4 years clean and sober after years of meth addiction

Filed Under: podcast Tagged With: brain chemicals, cortisol, dopamine, endorphin, Habits of a Happy Brain, oxytocin, serotonin

Melissa Sue Tucker

Melissa Sue Tucker from Oak Creek Wellness interviews inspiring family members and friends of alcoholics, drug addicts, and people who have struggled with other addictions. Discover tips and tricks on how we can keep ourselves healthy when we are in a relationship with an addict. You can also hear from holistic health and wellness professionals that share insight into keeping yourself well. Although Melissa confesses she does not have it all figured out, through the help of seminars, life coaches, and wellness professionals she has been able to work through her feelings of sadness, guilt, and shame associated with having two younger brothers struggle with drug addiction. After one brother passed away, she decided that his death would not be in vain. Only recently after watching Johann Hari's Ted Talk: Everything You Know About Addiction is Wrong did she decided to take action by focusing on inspiring hope and change by providing love and support to friends and family members of addicts. “Be the change you wish to see in the world” - Gandhi

Reader Interactions

Copyright © 2019 Oak Creek Wellness, Inc. - all rights reserved.