If you've just come out of a relationship, situationship or hookup that felt like an addiction: intense highs, crushing lows, a pattern you can't seem to escape no matter how much you want to, this episode explains exactly what was happening in your brain. And what it takes to actually stop it.
Clinical psychologist Dr Anastasia Hronis joins Bree to break down the psychology and neuroscience behind love bombing, dopamine-driven dating, toxic relationship patterns, anxious attachment, and why dating apps are making it all so much harder to find genuine connection.
Dr Hronis is the founder of the Australian Institute for Human Wellness, Honorary Associate at the University of Technology Sydney, and author of The Dopamine Brain (Penguin, 2024) - the science-backed guide to breaking cycles of impulse and living with intention.
Whether you're newly single after a relationship that felt like a drug, struggling with why you keep attracting emotionally unavailable people, or trying to understand why your last relationship had such extreme high highs and low lows — this conversation will change how you understand yourself and your patterns.
In this episode you'll learn:
• What love bombing actually is and the early red flags that are easy to miss when everything feels so good
• Why your brain confuses intensity with genuine love, the dopamine science behind it
• How dopamine creates addiction to toxic relationships and emotional chaos
• Why dating apps are built like slot machines and what that does to your ability to attach
• Anxious attachment, avoidant patterns and why you keep attracting emotionally unavailable people
• How to tell the difference between real connection and a dopamine hit
• Why you keep repeating the same relationship patterns and how to actually break them
• What healthy, secure dating actually feels like when you're used to chaos
• Practical steps to start dating like a grounded, regulated person and stop the cycle
The Dopamine Brain by Dr Anastasia Hronis — Penguin, 2024 — available everywhere books are sold
Dr Anastasia Hronis: anastasiahronis.com.au
Australian Institute for Human Wellness: ausihw.com.au
Follow Bree on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/breesteele.mp3/
Join the Last Year of Single community on Substack: https://breesteele.substack.com/
Email: lastyearofsingle@gmail.com
Host and Executive Producer: Bree Steele
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