2022 Annual Sowerby Lecture: Hanna Pickard on The Puzzle of Addiction

We are very pleased to have Professor Hanna Pickard from Johns Hopkins University speaking on The Puzzle of Addiction at the 2022 Annual Sowerby Lecture.

The event will take place in Lecture Theatre 1 in Bush House, Strand Campus, and will be followed by a drinks reception.

There will be an option to attend in person or online (we will send the Zoom link to everyone who has registered to attend). The lecture is preceded by a two-day workshop focusing on addiction and other aspects of Hanna Pickard's work; find out more about the workshop here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/427893179017

Abstract:

“Addiction science is at an impasse. Rates of addiction are rising. Translational results from decades of research are minimal. Meanwhile theories of addiction multiply and compete, fomenting disagreement about something as apparently simple as how addiction should be defined. How to move forward? This lecture aims to sketch a new paradigm. I start by asking a basic question. What are all theories of addiction trying to explain? The answer is the puzzle at the core of addiction. Drug use in addiction carries heart-breaking, life-destroying costs. Yet people with addiction keep using drugs. Why? All theories of addiction must answer to this why-question. But not all answers must apply equally to all people who are addicted. I sketch a host of answers that together point to a simple but important truth: addiction is deeply heterogenous. This has three consequences. The first is that addiction is not in all cases a brain disease, even if it may yet be in some. The second is that competing theories can be reconciled, not by turning a blind eye to inconsistencies, but by a strategy of divide and conquer. The third is that addiction science can integrate more effectively with clinical practice, which focuses on individually-tailored care and the person’s own hopes and values. I conclude by reflecting on how this paradigm can address addiction stigma, with particular consideration of a crucial but consistently overlooked answer to the puzzle: the impact of a self-identification as an “addict”.”

About the speaker:

Hanna Pickard (BA Hons, BPhil, DPhil) is Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Bioethics at Johns Hopkins University, cross-appointed to the William H. Miller III Department of Philosophy and the Berman Institute of Bioethics, and with a secondary appointment to the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Prior to joining Hopkins, she held a Chair in Philosophy of Psychology at the University of Birmingham U.K. and was a Visiting Research Scholar to Princeton University's Program in Cognitive Science (2017-19) as well as a Fellow of All Souls College at the University of Oxford (1997-2017). In addition to her academic work, she also worked for many years as an Assistant Team Therapist at the Oxford Health NHS Trust Oxfordshire Complex Needs Service, a specialist service for people with personality disorders and complex needs.

Find out more about Professor Pickard here: https://www.hannapickard.com

Event Venue

Lecture Theatre 1, Bush House, 30 Aldwych, London, United Kingdom