Your brain on revenge looks like your brain on drugs.
It's time for a cure.
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Amazon #1 Best Seller (in Violence in Society, Interpersonal Relations & Social Psychology)
"Best of 2025"
--Slate Magazine​​​
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Next Big Idea Club Must-Read Book​​
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"2025 Book of the Year"
--Mockingbird Magazine​
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"Could we even go so far as to call [revenge] an addiction? James Kimmel, Jr. argues passionately that we can -- and we must, if the world is ever to become a more compassionate place."
--New Scientist
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"Kimmel's book presents revenge-seeking as an addiction and Trump as a probable addict in that regard. But it’s less about Trump than it is about all of us."
--The New York Times​​​​
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"Mr. Kimmel has written a sensitive critique of revenge."
--The Wall Street Journal
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"Readable and at times humorous, the book confronts the mystery of the continuous stream of violence we see in our country and presents an actionable solution."
--Plough Magazine
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"This riveting, science-based exploration of why we feel pleasure from other people's pain is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand why we hurt each other and what we can do to end the need for revenge."
--Anna Lembke, MD, Professor of Addiction Medicine, Stanford University, and author of the New York Times bestseller Dopamine Nation​​​​
What's Your Revenge Score?
Take this free online quiz to find out how often you think about and seek revenge!
REVENGE ADDICTION
Oprah, Dr. Phil, and Dr. James Kimmel, Jr. discuss how online and real world rage and violence are caused by addictive brain-biological processes and how standard addiction prevention and treatment strategies and powerful, self-healing forgiveness approaches can make our lives, families, schools, workplaces, communities--and even our nation--safer, healthier, and more peaceful.
Dr. James Kimmel, Jr. Breaks Down The Top 5 Revenge Films of All Time
What Is Revenge Addiction?
Behavioral studies from around the world confirm that people who hurt (or kill) other people are almost always acting in response to a personal grievance—a real or imagined perception of having been wronged, betrayed, shamed, humiliated, or victimized. Recent behavioral and neuroscience studies of what’s happening inside the brains of people with grievances have led to a chilling discovery: activation of revenge desires and the pleasure and craving neurocircuitry of addiction.​
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It turns out that your brain on revenge looks like your brain on drugs. Grievances cue the brain to crave revenge in much the same way that stress and anxiety, or seeing drug paraphernalia or places of drug use, cue the brains of addicts to crave narcotics. ​
Being harmed or treated unfairly, or experiencing anger, disgust, guilt, or shame, is painful and activates the brain’s neural “pain network.” Getting revenge, or even just fantasizing about it, is rewarding, releasing dopamine and activating the brain’s pleasure and reward circuitry. This produces feelings of pleasure that temporarily cover up the pain, making us feel better. For a while. Like drugs and alcohol, the effects wear off quickly and almost always lead to greater pain and suffering.
With addiction, the brain's judgment and executive control function is hijacked, and reward circuity runs amok. When revenge cravings become compulsive and can’t be controlled despite the negative consequences, they can transform perfectly normal, peaceful people into perpetrators of unexpected and unimaginable acts of psychological and physical violence and abuse.​​
InThe Science of Revenge, lawyer, violence researcher, and assistant clinical professor in psychiatry James Kimmel, Jr., JD, for the first time reveals these landmark discoveries and offers effective strategies for helping people overcome dangerous revenge cravings and revenge addiction. This groundbreaking book holds the scientific key to preventing and treating violence and restoring peace in your life and the world around you.
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Download a Miracle
Get the free Miracle Court app
Based on The Science of Revenge and James Kimmel, Jr.'s Nonjustice System, the Miracle Court app is a virtual courthouse that allows you to put anyone on trial for anything they've ever done to you or someone you love. Get the justice you want, resolve your pain and grievances, and release your revenge cravings without harming others or yourself. It truly is a miracle.
Join a Revenge Anonymous (RA) Meeting!
Revenge Anonymous (RA) meetings based on 12-step recovery programs like AA/NA and the teachings in James Kimmel, Jr.'s book, The Science of Revenge, are now forming. Become part of a worldwide community of recovery from revenge addiction. Please join us!
Visit www.revengeanonymous.org to learn more!