Recovery of the Self…from Addiction, Adolescence, and Neuromedicalization

Speaker Nicholas Thomas-Lewis

6PM

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🧠 What if the way we talk about addiction is part of the problem?
Medical anthropologist and cognitive scientist Nicholas Thomas-Lewis (UCSF & UC Berkeley) argues that while the brain matters, it’s not the whole story. From “teen brain” headlines to “this is your brain on drugs” campaigns, we’ve built a culture that reduces adolescents to their neurochemistry—and in the process, stigmatizes and governs them as irrational or already lost.

Drawing on research across clinics, courts, and classrooms—as well as his own journey as the child of a teen parent navigating addiction—Nicholas invites us to rethink recovery not just as an individual act, but as a collective process rooted in community, relationship, and human dignity.

Come for the science, stay for the storytelling, and leave with a new way of understanding addiction, adolescence, and what it really means to recover. ✨