Addiction is often described as the result of specific biological or genetic mechanisms that lock the body into negative patterns of behavior, uncontrollable cravings and traumatic withdrawal.  

The DSM-V lists thirteen categories of addiction, from drug and alcohol abuse to over indulgence in internet gaming. Is how we label and talk about addiction helpful or can it get in the way of creative treatment?  Is addiction inexorable, universal, and irreversible? Does it have a relationship to how we live our lives or a world spinning out of control? Join psychiatrist Dr. Hugh Polk and Rachel Mickenberg, LMSW as they philosophize and deconstruct their conceptions of addiction and hear about their experience in their social therapeutic practices, helping people diagnosed with addiction.

Hugh Polk, M.D.  is a psychiatrist and Social Therapist with thirty years of experience in bringing the social therapeutic approach to community mental health centers and hospitals throughout New York City. He completed his undergraduate studies at Harvard University, received his M.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and completed his psychiatric residency at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Rachel Mickenberg, L.M.S.W. is a talented social therapist who helps adults and adolescents explore/discover who they are in the world - the ways in which they think, talk and act that undermine their capacity to fully embrace life. She is a co-founder of the High School for Public Service, a unique and innovative public high school in Crown Heights, Brooklyn where young people grow and develop emotionally in groups. Rachel is a graduate of the Hunter College School of Social Work and received her advanced training at the East Side Institute for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy.