“Riding the edge of oblivion”: dopamine, addiction, creativity—what the human reward system teaches us about the work of the artist and the road to recovery

Abstract

Addiction tears through every level of human society, and despite the many approaches to dealing with it, no solution has been found. This problem inspired Use Me Up, an autofictional novel set in early-2000s Sydney that contends with addiction, self-destruction, and recovery. Drawing from my own familiarity with addiction, and the experience of writing a novel, this exegesis addresses addiction’s social causes, as well as the potential pathways to recovery. I embark upon a close analysis of the human reward system: the group of neural structures activated through the anticipation of pleasure. At its core is dopamine, a neurotransmitter widely recognized as intrinsic to addictive patterning. By examining dopamine as the “molecule of more,” (Lieberman, Long, 2018) I explore how the protagonist of Use Me Up exhibits destructive desires which both reflect a biological vulnerability to addiction and reveal our heightened exposure to addictive cues in twenty-first-century “limbic capitalism.” (Courtwright, 2019)

While dopamine is key to addiction, I also consider the neurotransmitter’s vital connection with creativity, an association which is well known but rarely studied in depth. Drawing on dopamine research by J. D. Berke (2018), L. J. Gotlib (2021), and others, I provide further insight into how dopamine uncovers the biological connection between creativity and addiction. Bridging research in the humanities and sciences, I consider the therapeutic qualities of creative work, and how the experience of creativity may reveal practical insights for recovering addicts, insights that do not ignore the instincts of our biology. The nature of this exegesis lends flexibility to my discussion, as it, like creativity and addiction, exceeds boundaries and rules when exploring its subject. I analyse the links between dopamine, addiction, and creativity from the perspective of the artist at work, and how this can shine new light on human creativity and our human reward system.