Dr. Jud Brewer
Dr. Jud Brewer
Habit Change Addiction - Reinforcement Learning and Addiction: A Digital Mindfulness Solution
Habit Change Addiction - Reinforcement Learning and Addiction: A Digital Mindfulness Solution
Habit Change Addiction - Reinforcement Learning and Addiction: A Digital Mindfulness Solution
Saturday 20th December 2025
Explore how mindfulness and the 'Craving to Quit' app can help disrupt addictive behaviours and transform habits.
14 minutes
Inspiring
Informative
Hopeful
Engaging
Educational
About this podcast
Author:
Dr. Jud Brewer
Overview:
Categories:
Mindful Recovery
Mindfulness & Emotional Wellbeing
Mindfulness & Technology in Health
Understanding Addiction & Recovery
Navigating Intimate Relationships
Links:
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Episodes:
87 (View all)
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Episode Overview
- Mindfulness can recalibrate how rewarding we perceive smoking, reducing cravings.
- 'Craving to Quit' app uses real-time feedback to disrupt addictive behaviours.
- Reinforcement learning mechanisms explain habit formation and change.
- Awareness of cravings can lead to healthier behavioural choices.
- Mindfulness techniques apply beyond smoking to other habits like eating.
"Mindfulness gives us the power to step back and be like, wait a minute. Do I really want to be doing this right now?"
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? In this engaging episode of The Dr. Jud Podcast, Dr. Jud Brewer, a renowned addiction psychiatrist and neuroscientist, unpacks the science behind breaking bad habits and addictions through mindfulness. Together with his AI co-hosts, he brings a fresh perspective on how our brains form negative behaviour patterns and the innovative techniques that can create lasting change.
The focus is on the 'Craving to Quit' app, a digital tool that combines mindful awareness practices with real-time feedback on cravings to help people quit smoking. The episode explores how the app taps into reinforcement learning mechanisms in the brain to disrupt addictive behaviours. Listeners will learn about the Rescorla-Wagner model, a classic computational model used to measure expected rewards from smoking, and how mindfulness can recalibrate these rewards.
This recalibration is key in reducing cravings and smoking over time, as shown by a study involving 108 participants. Dr. Brewer and his team discuss how this approach isn't limited to smoking but can be applied to other habits, like eating or social media use. By bringing awareness to these behaviours, individuals can start to see them as less rewarding, ultimately helping to break the habit loop.
With light humour and relatable anecdotes, this episode is both informative and inspiring, offering hope for those seeking to overcome addiction. So, are you ready to rethink how you approach habits and cravings? Dive into this episode to uncover how mindfulness might just be the key to transforming your relationship with addictive behaviours.