I have heard stuff like dopamine desensitization but was never explained properly about what actually happens inside the brain.
I am interested in knowing what happens inside the brain, the neurobiological stuff (sorry if I used the wrong word)
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Your brain neurons have a bunch of receptors. Dopamine is an excitatory transmitter. Dopamine excites the neuron and nearby neurons.
Too much dopamine is damaging to the neuron so the neuron has to down regulate, i.e. it closes off some of the receptors. This leads to needing a bigger hit to get the same feeling as before. This is called tolerance.
When you continue to take bigger hits to get the pleasurable feeling, eventually the neuron dies. This is called addiction.
Conversely there is serotonin which is inhibitory. Serotonin inhibits the neuron and its neighbors. This gives you feelings of contentment.
This is what makes the difference between pleasure and happiness, dopamine and serotonin.
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