New discoveries and how they are changing the landscape of addiction and treatment

Petros Levounis, MD, will deliver a talk exploring new discoveries in the understanding and treatment of addiction on Tuesday, Oct. 8 at 5:30 p.m. at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) in Scranton. The presentation, “The New Neurobiology of Addiction,” is the eighth installment in GCSOM’s Preventive Medicine Lecture series, established in 2016. The lecture is free and open to the public.

During the lecture, Dr. Levounis will explore the traditional understanding of addiction and how new discoveries about the brain are challenging some long-held assumptions about treatment. “From a neurobiological perspective, addiction can be seen as the hijacking of the pleasure-reward pathways of the brain with a concomitant weakening of its executive function,” he said. “In 2019, the fundamental model has been expanded to include newer concepts such as motivational circuitry and anti-reward pathways. These discoveries are changing the landscape of addiction and its treatment.” Motivational circuitry includes the role experiences play in interacting with the brain’s reward system, while the anti-reward pathways refer to areas of the brain that produce powerful negative emotions that drive a person to avoid certain behaviors.

Dr. Levounis is professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, as well as chief of service, University Hospital, Newark, New Jersey. Previously, Dr. Levounis was  Columbia University’s director of the Addiction Institute of New York from 2002 to 2013. He is an expert in the field of addiction and has published 13 books, including the self-help paperback “Sober Siblings: How to Help Your Alcoholic Brother or Sister—and Not Lose Yourself.”

Dr. Levounis’s lecture will take place at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, 525 Pine Street, Scranton at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 8. The event is free but reservations are required. To RSVP, visit geisinger.edu/OctPrevMed.

About Geisinger
Geisinger is among the nation’s leading providers of value-based care, serving 1.2 million people in urban and rural communities across Pennsylvania. Founded in 1915 by philanthropist Abigail Geisinger, the non-profit system generates $10 billion in annual revenues across 134 care sites - including 10 hospital campuses, and Geisinger Health Plan, with 600,000 members in commercial and government plans. The Geisinger College of Health Sciences educates more than 5,000 medical professionals annually and conducts more than 1,400 clinical research studies. With 26,000 employees, including 1,600 employed physicians, Geisinger is among Pennsylvania’s largest employers with an estimated economic impact of $14 billion to the state’s economy. On March 31, 2024, Geisinger became the first member of Risant Health, a new nonprofit charitable organization created to expand and accelerate value-based care across the country.  Learn more at geisinger.org or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.