Dr. Phil Primetime S2025E61 - The Science of Revenge: The World's Deadliest Addiction

Revenge feels like justice, but what if it's more like an addiction? Dr. Phil and James dive into the neuroscience behind revenge—how it hijacks our brain's pain and reward systems just like substance dependency. They explore how society reinforces these cycles, why letting go isn't weakness, and how forgiveness actually rewires the mind. Plus, Kimmel's "Non-Justice System" offers a fresh way to process grudges without fueling destruction. Kimmel's latest groundbreaking book, The Science of Revenge: Understanding the World's Deadliest Addiction and How to Overcome It, unveils the unseen neurobiological forces behind our compulsive desires for retribution—an addiction that silently fuels violence and aggression in all its forms. James Kimmel, Jr., JD, is a lecturer in psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, a lawyer, and the founder and co-director of the Yale Collaborative for Motive Control Studies. A breakthrough scholar and expert on revenge, he first identified compulsive revenge seeking as an addiction and developed the behavioral addiction model of revenge as a public health approach for preventing and treating violence.