Nobel Conference Event Analysis

The first Nobel conference event I listened to was the panel discussion. In this discussion, treatment options were explored. Four different speakers were involved, including William Cope Moyers, who is the author of the book Broken that we are reading in class. The first speaker was Anne Fletcher. She shared that of the 22 million people that need treatment, only 10 percent receive treatment. Most people do not need treatment according to her, and most can get better on their own. The severe cases are the most likely to get treatment. According to Anne, “AA is not a treatment.” She goes on to say that there’s many shortcomings to the program. I felt she did an effective job for the most part. She conveyed the popular message at the conference …show more content…
I found his talk awkward, because all the treatment methods that were being disregarded by the other speakers actually worked for Moyers. He supported the chronic illness thesis, and that solution treatment can and does work. Moyers experienced four different treatment stints from 1989-1994. Moyers used the traditional abstinence and 12 step treatment approach. He relapsed on crack however. He received his treatments in Atlanta and Minnesota. Moyers went on to say that the treatment isn’t a cure, but a means of recovery management. He came across how I expected from seeing his talks in the past. He definitely tried hard not to discredit the others work, and instead focused on his own personal experience, instead of the …show more content…
Marc was the headliner of the entire conference. Marc is a neuroscientist and a professor of developmental psychology. His main focus of research is the neurobiological basis of emotional and personality development across childhood. Marc has also battled addiction himself with opiates. The most significant point of Marc’s speech to me was the description of all the different models of addiction. Marc described all the models including the disease, choice, social consequence, and the self-medication models. He also spent a large amount of talk talking about brain development, and the amount of grey matter in the brain. Marc showed that from years of use there was a reduction of the synapses in our brains. I was a little lost on his description of the different brain parts and the development of those parts. I would like some more clarification on what these parts are responsible for, and more general information about their