Doctor to speak about addiction
as a disease
 By
Charise Pettit
Staff Writer
Addiction is a psycho-bio-social disease.
This is the claim Dr. Sean O’Connor, assistant
professor of psychiatry at Indiana University School of Medicine, will
make when he speaks at Purdue. The lecture will take place at 7 tonight
in the Electrical Engineering building, Room 117.
O’Connor is the chief of the substance abuse
treatment section of the IU School of Medicine. He will talk about how
addiction is a chronic brain disease, as well as the psychological,
biological and social factors that contribute to the progress of addiction.
Tammy Loew, alcohol risk reduction coordinator
with the Student Wellness office, said O’Connor has a different
approach to addiction than most. He will be going through his research
to try to show students why addiction is a disease.
This lecture is a collaborative effort between
the Indiana Addictions Issues Coalition, the Student Wellness Office
and the Kitchen Table lecture series. It is part of the Kitchen Table’s
"Understanding Diversity" series.
Last spring, Kitchen Table group members came to
the Wellness Office because they wanted to include a lecture on alcohol
in their series.
"We didn’t just want a speaker who would
come in and say ‘don’t drink,’ we wanted to have a different
perspective so students would actually learn something," said Katie
Brossard, member of the Kitchen Table organization.
Loew then got in touch with the Indiana Addictions
Issues Coalition, who helped to bring O’Connor.
"I heard him speak last summer and he was
excellent. For someone like me, a non-science person, he does a great
job of helping us understand and I really appreciated that," said
Loew.
She hopes that students will get an understanding
of addiction as a disease by attending this lecture. "It is important
to understand addiction as another diverse culture, just like anything
else," she said.
Likewise, Brossard hopes students will be enriched
by attending what she feels will be an "interesting" lecture.
"I hope (students), by learning the physiological
effects of alcohol addiction and what it does to your body, will be
able to notice the differences between addiction and casual drinking
at a party," said Brossard.
For further information, contact Tammy Loew at
496-6780.
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