Dopamine Obsession and ADHD: A subtle story
Over the last few years, dopamine has become the internet’s favourite neurotransmitter. It’s blamed for distraction, burnout, social-media addiction, and often invoked in conversations about ADHD. The idea that ADHD is just a “dopamine deficiency” that can be hacked, boosted, or “reset” through tricks like dopamine fasting has a certain appeal. Unfortunately, it’s also a big oversimplification — and sometimes a harmful one.
The Myth of Dopamine Control
Popular trends like “dopamine fasting” suggest that by avoiding stimulation — social media, video games, even talking — we can “reset” our dopamine levels and regain motivation. But as Harvard Health explains, this fad misrepresents basic neuroscience: dopamine isn’t a simple pleasure chemical you can drain and refill like a fuel tank (Harvard Health, 2020).
Dopamine helps signal salience (what’s worth paying attention to), motivation, and learning from rewards — not pure pleasure. It operates in multiple feedback loops across the brain. You can’t meaningfully “fast” from it any more than you can fast from breathing.
The Harvard article points out that dopamine fasting is “a catchy name for a mix of mindfulness and behaviour change,” but it has no clear evidence base for actually re-tuning brain chemistry. For most people, and especially those with ADHD, it’s impractical and potentially counterproductive.
Dopamine and ADHD: What Research Actually Shows
It’s true that dopamine plays a role in ADHD, but not in the simple “too little dopamine” way social media suggests.
Subtle regulation, not deficiency
Studies using brain imaging and genetics show small but consistent differences in dopamine-related systems among people with ADHD — including dopamine transporter (DAT1) and receptor (DRD4, DRD5) genes (Faraone et al., 2005). Some imaging research has found altered receptor or transporter availability in reward-related regions, while others show minimal differences (Volkow et al., 2009; Pappadopulos et al., 2024).
The more nuanced view is that ADHD involves dysregulation of dopamine signalling — particularly in the balance between tonic (baseline) and phasic (burst) dopamine release (Tripp & Wickens, 2009). In this model, ADHD brains may have a lower background level of dopamine, making it harder to sustain attention, but may over-respond to immediate rewards. This helps explain why short-term, stimulating tasks feel engaging while long, boring ones are difficult to start.
In short: dopamine is involved, but it’s a dynamic modulation problem, not a static shortage.
Why “Dopamine Fasting” Is Especially Unhelpful for ADHD
For people with ADHD, the idea of cutting out stimulation to “reset” dopamine can backfire. Many already experience chronic under-stimulation — a feeling of low internal drive that makes everyday tasks feel effortful. Removing sources of engagement can worsen focus, mood, and motivation.
Rather than dopamine deprivation, ADHD management benefits from structured stimulation:
Making tasks more immediately rewarding or interesting
Using external prompts and feedback
Balancing novelty with routine
Supporting regulation through sleep, nutrition, and exercise
These strategies align with what the research actually shows about how dopamine systems function — they need consistent, well-tuned engagement, not abstinence.
Beyond the Dopamine Hype
Thinking of dopamine as a moral or motivational scorekeeper is unhelpful. It risks promoting shame (“I just can’t control my dopamine”) or magical thinking (“I can reset my brain if I just fast from fun things”). Instead, we can focus on realistic approaches:
Regulation, not reset. ADHD isn’t fixed by cutting pleasure; it’s supported by stability, structure, and meaningful rewards.
Mindful engagement. Short digital breaks or mindful pauses can help, but these work through attention training, not dopamine depletion.
Evidence-based treatment. Stimulant and non-stimulant medications safely modulate dopamine and other neurotransmitters in clinically tested ways.
Final Thoughts
Our collective “dopamine obsession” flattens a complex, beautifully adaptive system into a simplistic currency of pleasure and control. For ADHD, this narrative misses the point: dopamine isn’t the villain or the cure — it’s one player in a larger orchestra of motivation, attention, and self-regulation.
True progress comes not from fasting dopamine, but from understanding and supporting the systems it helps tune.
References
Faraone, S. V. et al. (2005). Molecular genetics of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 57(11), 1313–1323.
Harvard Health (2020). Dopamine fasting: Misunderstanding science spawns a maladaptive fad. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/dopamine-fasting-misunderstanding-science-spawns-a-maladaptive-fad-2020022618917
Pappadopulos, E. et al. (2024). The dopamine hypothesis for ADHD: An evaluation of evidence. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 157, 105393.
Tripp, G. & Wickens, J. R. (2009). Neurobiology of ADHD: A dual-pathway model of dopamine signalling. Behavioural Brain Research, 204(2), 234–239.
Volkow, N. D. et al. (2009). Motivation deficit in ADHD is associated with dysfunction of the dopamine reward pathway. Molecular Psychiatry, 14, 54–63.