As part of its “Open Mind” lecture series, UCLA's Friends of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior will host award-winning author, journalist and mental health specialist Maia Szalavitz, Author of the “Unbroken Brain,” which investigates addiction and neuroscience. Using her own story of recovery from heroin and cocaine addiction, Szalavitz explores how reframing addiction as a developmental disorder could revolutionize prevention, treatment and policy.
Szalavitz will discuss her latest book at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 9, in UCLA’s Semel Auditorium.
Addressing trauma and developmental psychology, Szalavitz’s previous work includes the bestselling 2007 book, “The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog," as well as 2010's “Born for Love: Why Empathy Is Essential and Endangered,” both co-authored with leading child psychiatrist and trauma expert Bruce Perry.
Szalavitz also provides mental health coverage for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Elle, Newsday, New York Magazine, New Scientist, Newsweek, Salon, Redbook and O: the Oprah Magazine.
In 2004, Szalavitz was the recipient of the American Psychological Association’s Addiction Division Award for “Outstanding Contributions to Advancing the Understanding of Addictions.” She received the Drug Policy Alliance’s Edward Brecher Award for Achievement in Journalism in 2005.
Edythe London, UCLA’s distinguished professor-in-residence in both the department of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences and the department of molecular and medical pharmacology, will be joining Szalavitz in discussion.
Check-in for the event is at 6:30 p.m.; the event program will start at 7 p.m.
Admission to the lecture and discussion is free. Reservations are required and can be made online.