June 6, 2025 • 7 mins
LISTEN and SUBSCRIBE on:
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Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PtgPvJvqc2gkpGIkNMR5i
WATCH and SUBSCRIBE on:
https://www.youtube.com/@WatchdogOnWallstreet/featured
Is revenge just a natural reaction—or could it be an actual addiction? In this compelling segment, Watchdog on Wall Street explores The World's Deadliest Addiction by James Kimmel, a former lawyer turned Yale psychiatry lecturer, who reveals how the urge to get even can hijack the brain like a narcotic. Drawing from cutting-edge neuroscience, prison reform programs, and personal experience, the discussion dives into how revenge lights up the same pleasure centers as drugs—and why forgiveness may be the brain’s best antidote. From dopamine hits to ancient wisdom, it’s a thought-provoking journey through psychology, pain, and healing in a culture that often celebrates payback. www.watchdogonwallstreet.com
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/watchdog-on-wall-street-with-chris-markowski/id570687608
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PtgPvJvqc2gkpGIkNMR5i
WATCH and SUBSCRIBE on:
https://www.youtube.com/@WatchdogOnWallstreet/featured
Is revenge just a natural reaction—or could it be an actual addiction? In this compelling segment, Watchdog on Wall Street explores The World's Deadliest Addiction by James Kimmel, a former lawyer turned Yale psychiatry lecturer, who reveals how the urge to get even can hijack the brain like a narcotic. Drawing from cutting-edge neuroscience, prison reform programs, and personal experience, the discussion dives into how revenge lights up the same pleasure centers as drugs—and why forgiveness may be the brain’s best antidote. From dopamine hits to ancient wisdom, it’s a thought-provoking journey through psychology, pain, and healing in a culture that often celebrates payback. www.watchdogonwallstreet.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it will have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Are you addicted to revenge? There's a new book out
by James Kimmel. It's called the World's Deadliest Addiction and
How to Overcome It. Understanding Understanding the World's Deadliest Addiction,
The Science of Revenge. This individual's James Kimmel used to
(00:36):
be a lawyer, used to be a lawyer. In his story,
as a kid, he was he had some bullies and they,
you know, wanted to get back at them, you know,
went after almost went after them with the gun. Didn't
I'm kind of making the long story short here, walked
away but never let it go, never actually forgave. And
(01:03):
he ended up becoming a lawyer and was obsessed with
getting back except just obsessed with for his clients and
getting revenge, getting back at people, and it led him
almost to commit suicide. They decided to quit. He is
now he's a lecturer at Yale Medical School for Psychiatry.
(01:25):
This is fascinating. It really is, and it's important. I
really think this is something we should go over question
can you become addicted to revenge? And neuroscientists at universities
around the world using scanning technology studying what happens in
your brain when you seek revenge with a psychologist this
(01:49):
Steve Kimmel co founded a mental health peer support agency
at Yale Medical to develop a program for prison inmates,
including therapy for vengeful urges. And actually that's what really
kind of started them off on his research. Your brain
on revenge, this is amazing, looks very much like your
(02:10):
brain on drugs. In his study, participants were given the
opportunity to retaliate against players who betrayed them during economic games,
but at the cost of bankrupting themselves. PET scans of
their brain showed activation of the dorsal stridium, with part
(02:32):
of the circuitry involved in habit formation and addiction. And
it's funny that study as well. There was actually a
couple Swiss researchers. I wrote a paper on this years ago,
studying the habits of people on Wall Street. Similar anyway.
A decade later after this, the journal Social Cognitive and
(02:54):
Effective Neuroscience subjected participants to noise be blasts and gave
them a chance to retaliate. Functional MRIs revealed activation of
their nucleus acumans, part of the brain most implicated in
pleasure in craving. The brains of participants who didn't seek
(03:14):
revenge showed successful intervention by the prefrontal cortex, the aory,
the brain responsible for executive function and self control, which
appears to be hijacked during addiction. Grievances, real or imagined,
appear to cue the brain to crave revenge in the
same way that's stress and anxiety, or seeing drug paraphernalia
(03:40):
or places of drug use can cue the brains of
addicts to crave narcotics. Addiction signed to describe this mechanism
as part of the brain system for maintaining balance between
pleasure and pain, calibrated partly by levels of dopamine. Now
Being harmed or treated unfairly, or experiencing anger discussed guilt
or shame activates the brain's pain network, specifically a brain
(04:05):
structure called the anterior insula. Getting revenge or even just
fantasizing about it, releases dopamine and produces feelings of pleasure
that cover up the pain and restore balance for a while.
Like drugs like alcohol, the effects wear off quickly. Taking revenge,
(04:30):
psychologists at Colgate have found produces negative consequences in the
long run, including anxiety about being a victim of continued
escalation of the conflict. Again, we've all at some point
in time, we're all human. We experience the urge to
punish people who violate social norms or mistreat us. Again,
(04:56):
ninety nine percent of us control These urges. Perhaps may
fan size about getting back or the terrible things that
we might do before moving on with our lives. That
you know, you leave the pain in the past where
it belongs. Not everyone is so successful. Not all grievances
are the same or experienced in the same way, and
(05:16):
we're not always able to control our revenge cravings. Human
history filled with horrifying examples of compulsive revenge seeking. We
all know this Again. He goes on talking about the
use of you understand the underpinnings, the use of addiction
recovery approaches to counteract it. They said, maybe public health campaign,
(05:39):
school programs, all sorts of stuff, you know, anti craving
medications like GLP one. I got an idea it's been around,
been around for you know, a little over two thousand
years to what is Oh yeah, the church? See how
(06:01):
about that? Yeah? Look at this? How about this? Neuroscience
has also recently shown a simpler and more potent method
of addressing revenge addiction and violence. It's called secret forgiveness. YEP.
(06:25):
A brain scan study at UCLA found that participants who
chose to forgive rather than retaliate, reduced activity in their
brains pay network and reward circuitry and increase activity in
their self control circuitry. Gee forgiveness is it's like a
freely available wonder drug. How about that? You know, there
(06:49):
was this guy that you might have heard. His name
was Jesus. He talked a lot about this, and it's
something we're supposed to do all the time. It's wow,
it's amazing how that works out. Again, I know, it's
weekend of Pentecost, which is again birthday of the church.
(07:13):
I don't know. You've got you're addicted to revenge, You've
got these types of cravings. It's not going anywhere. It's
not healthy. Just thrown out there. May I suggest you
go Watchdog on Wall Street dot Com.
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it will have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Are you addicted to revenge? There's a new book out
by James Kimmel. It's called the World's Deadliest Addiction and
How to Overcome It. Understanding Understanding the World's Deadliest Addiction,
The Science of Revenge. This individual's James Kimmel used to
(00:36):
be a lawyer, used to be a lawyer. In his story,
as a kid, he was he had some bullies and they,
you know, wanted to get back at them, you know,
went after almost went after them with the gun. Didn't
I'm kind of making the long story short here, walked
away but never let it go, never actually forgave. And
(01:03):
he ended up becoming a lawyer and was obsessed with
getting back except just obsessed with for his clients and
getting revenge, getting back at people, and it led him
almost to commit suicide. They decided to quit. He is
now he's a lecturer at Yale Medical School for Psychiatry.
(01:25):
This is fascinating. It really is, and it's important. I
really think this is something we should go over question
can you become addicted to revenge? And neuroscientists at universities
around the world using scanning technology studying what happens in
your brain when you seek revenge with a psychologist this
(01:49):
Steve Kimmel co founded a mental health peer support agency
at Yale Medical to develop a program for prison inmates,
including therapy for vengeful urges. And actually that's what really
kind of started them off on his research. Your brain
on revenge, this is amazing, looks very much like your
(02:10):
brain on drugs. In his study, participants were given the
opportunity to retaliate against players who betrayed them during economic games,
but at the cost of bankrupting themselves. PET scans of
their brain showed activation of the dorsal stridium, with part
(02:32):
of the circuitry involved in habit formation and addiction. And
it's funny that study as well. There was actually a
couple Swiss researchers. I wrote a paper on this years ago,
studying the habits of people on Wall Street. Similar anyway.
A decade later after this, the journal Social Cognitive and
(02:54):
Effective Neuroscience subjected participants to noise be blasts and gave
them a chance to retaliate. Functional MRIs revealed activation of
their nucleus acumans, part of the brain most implicated in
pleasure in craving. The brains of participants who didn't seek
(03:14):
revenge showed successful intervention by the prefrontal cortex, the aory,
the brain responsible for executive function and self control, which
appears to be hijacked during addiction. Grievances, real or imagined,
appear to cue the brain to crave revenge in the
same way that's stress and anxiety, or seeing drug paraphernalia
(03:40):
or places of drug use can cue the brains of
addicts to crave narcotics. Addiction signed to describe this mechanism
as part of the brain system for maintaining balance between
pleasure and pain, calibrated partly by levels of dopamine. Now
Being harmed or treated unfairly, or experiencing anger discussed guilt
or shame activates the brain's pain network, specifically a brain
(04:05):
structure called the anterior insula. Getting revenge or even just
fantasizing about it, releases dopamine and produces feelings of pleasure
that cover up the pain and restore balance for a while.
Like drugs like alcohol, the effects wear off quickly. Taking revenge,
(04:30):
psychologists at Colgate have found produces negative consequences in the
long run, including anxiety about being a victim of continued
escalation of the conflict. Again, we've all at some point
in time, we're all human. We experience the urge to
punish people who violate social norms or mistreat us. Again,
(04:56):
ninety nine percent of us control These urges. Perhaps may
fan size about getting back or the terrible things that
we might do before moving on with our lives. That
you know, you leave the pain in the past where
it belongs. Not everyone is so successful. Not all grievances
are the same or experienced in the same way, and
(05:16):
we're not always able to control our revenge cravings. Human
history filled with horrifying examples of compulsive revenge seeking. We
all know this Again. He goes on talking about the
use of you understand the underpinnings, the use of addiction
recovery approaches to counteract it. They said, maybe public health campaign,
(05:39):
school programs, all sorts of stuff, you know, anti craving
medications like GLP one. I got an idea it's been around,
been around for you know, a little over two thousand
years to what is Oh yeah, the church? See how
(06:01):
about that? Yeah? Look at this? How about this? Neuroscience
has also recently shown a simpler and more potent method
of addressing revenge addiction and violence. It's called secret forgiveness. YEP.
(06:25):
A brain scan study at UCLA found that participants who
chose to forgive rather than retaliate, reduced activity in their
brains pay network and reward circuitry and increase activity in
their self control circuitry. Gee forgiveness is it's like a
freely available wonder drug. How about that? You know, there
(06:49):
was this guy that you might have heard. His name
was Jesus. He talked a lot about this, and it's
something we're supposed to do all the time. It's wow,
it's amazing how that works out. Again, I know, it's
weekend of Pentecost, which is again birthday of the church.
(07:13):
I don't know. You've got you're addicted to revenge, You've
got these types of cravings. It's not going anywhere. It's
not healthy. Just thrown out there. May I suggest you
go Watchdog on Wall Street dot Com.
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