Dr. Trish Leigh Podcast — Episode #193

Title: When Social Media Becomes Your Enemy
Host: Dr. Trish Leigh
Release Date: October 26, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Dr. Trish Leigh dives deep into the hidden costs of social media on our brain and nervous system. She explains how platforms designed to connect us actually shape neurobiological loops that foster anxiety, comparison, and disconnection from our authentic selves. Drawing on neuroscience and her own clinical experiences, Dr. Leigh reframes digital overstimulation — whether from social media or explicit material — as a problem of hijacked arousal, not personal weakness. She offers practical, science-backed tactics for regaining agency, rewiring the brain, and reconnecting with "sacred worth."

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Digital “Frenemy” and Nervous System Hijack

• Main Idea: Social media is marketed as a friend but often acts as an enemy, subtly reshaping how our brains function and how we perceive ourselves.

• Dr. Leigh introduces the idea that while social media appears to connect us, it's actually fragmenting our nervous systems and driving us into a state of continuous comparison.

  “Every scroll, every like, every swipe isn't just passing time. It's reshaping your nervous system, training your brain to crave stimulation instead of stillness and comparison instead of contentment. This is what I call the digital envy loop — a neurochemical trap...”
  — Dr. Trish Leigh (01:15)

2. The Science: The “Digital Envy Loop”

• Key Mechanism:

  • Each scroll triggers a hit of dopamine, not from genuine joy but from novelty and comparison.
  • Pleasure and stress circuits are both activated — a “double hit” that leaves people anxious and hungry for more outside validation.

• Neurological Evidence:

  • Dr. Leigh references QEEG brain mapping: heavy social media users show high beta chaos— a marker for anxiety and overstimulation.

  “I've seen this pattern a thousand times on QEEG brain maps. The social media brain lights up in high beta red chaos, showing anxiety, hypervigilance, and overstimulation.”
  — Dr. Trish Leigh (02:25)

3. Personal Vulnerability and Universality

• Dr. Leigh candidly shares her own experience with the “should be doing more” inner voice that social media triggers:

  "Even now, after decades of studying the brain, something inside me starts to whisper, 'You're not enough.' ... My chest tightens, my breath shallows, there's a subtle ache behind my sternum."
  — Dr. Trish Leigh (03:50)

• She stresses that even knowing the neuroscience doesn't inoculate her (or anyone) from these effects.

4. Arousal Hijack: From Sexual to Social and Achievement Fantasies

• Core Insight:

  • Both explicit material and social media hijack the brain’s arousal—one sexual, the other emotional—but each drives unhealthy dopamine loops.
  • The brain does not differentiate between “scrolling through bodies or scrolling through achievements. To your brain, it's all stimulation.”

• Outcome:

  • Over time, this leads to a "crash of shame" and undernourished self-worth.

  "Your nervous system doesn’t know the difference... The same flood of dopamine followed by the same crash of shame."
  — Dr. Trish Leigh (08:10)

5. Reframing: It’s a Brain Hijack, Not a Personal Weakness

• Dr. Leigh offers empathy and understanding, insisting this is a biological hijack, not a failure of willpower or character.

• She introduces the term “sacred neuroscience”: looking beyond brainwaves to how digital habits steer us away from our “divinely inspired purpose.”

  "This isn't weakness in me. It's not weakness in you. It's a brain hijack. A nervous system trained to seek worth through performance instead of through presence."
  — Dr. Trish Leigh (10:00)

6. Breaking Free: The Sacred Neuroscience Path to Rewiring

Practical Rewiring Strategies (15:30)

1. Pause Before Scrolling
   • Notice your body: “Is it grounded or is it grasping?”
   • This brief moment of awareness helps reclaim agency.
2. Rebuild Real Reward
   • Create, don’t just consume. “True dopamine is earned through creation, not consumption.”
   • Suggestions: Write, paint, take a walk, connect in person.
3. Reclaim Sacred Stillness
   • Practice intentional stillness. “Your brain can’t access peace while it’s completely overstimulated.”
   • Stillness returns the brain to the “Green Zone of clarity” observed in QEEG mappings.

Philosophical Encouragement

• Dr. Leigh references St. Augustine: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in the...divinely inspired purpose.”
• She urges listeners to move from “seeking and searching” to “being on the inside,” reconnecting with intrinsic self-worth.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Comparison & Worth:

  “You can’t find enoughness in the feed because you were never meant to.”
  — Dr. Trish Leigh (18:40)

• On Agency vs. Algorithm:

  “The algorithm is what profits from your restlessness, but it is your spirit, your true self...that profits from your peace.”
  — Dr. Trish Leigh (18:00)

• On the Supernormal Path:

  “When you step out of the comparison loop and back into sacred order, that's when you truly become super normal.”
  — Dr. Trish Leigh (19:00)

Important Timestamps

• 00:00 — Episode begins, introduction to “social media as frenemy.”
• 01:15 — Explanation of the “digital envy loop” and dopamine hits.
• 02:25 — Dr. Leigh describes QEEG brain map findings related to social media use.
• 03:50 — Personal story: the internal voice of comparison and anxiety.
• 08:10 — Discussion: emotional arousal hijack and the dopamine crash.
• 10:00 — Reframing: It’s not personal weakness, but neural hijack.
• 15:30 — Dr. Leigh’s three-step strategy for reclaiming brain health.
• 18:00–19:00 — Encouragement, power of peace, and “supernormal” living.

Summary Takeaways

• Social media subtly hijacks the nervous system, fostering cycles of comparison, anxiety, and undernourished self-worth via dopamine-driven “envy loops.”
• Neurological research (QEEG) confirms the overstimulation and fragmentation caused by excessive digital engagement.
• It's not about willpower or character flaws; it's a brain-nervous system issue.
• Dr. Leigh provides actionable neuroscience-based tools: pause, create, cultivate stillness.
• Anchoring yourself in intrinsic worth and sacred presence, rather than seeking external validation, is the antidote to digital hijack.

Closing Note:
Dr. Trish Leigh concludes by encouraging listeners to “control your brain, or it will control you.” She teases the next episode, focusing on the dopamine detox and the journey toward being "supernormal."