Addiction: Choice and Disease

Kent Berridge is James Olds Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, USA. Research in his lab aims for better answers to questions such as: How is pleasure ('liking') generated by the brain? How is desire ('wanting') generated by the brain? How does wanting differ from liking? And how does addiction become compulsive?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_C._Berridge 

Andre Geel is a Chartered and Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. He is Lead Psychologist for Addictions in a large NHS Trust in London. He was Chair of the Faculty of Addictions for the British Psychological Society. He has published in community, general and addictions psychology.

He has been advisor to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence on a number of occasions, lectures and supervises in Clinical Psychology on a number of Doctoral level Universities courses and has presented at numerous national and international conferences.

He has previously worked in Mental health, community psychology, rehabilitation, primary care and the military.

His interests include Positive Psychology, Solution Focused and Multimodal Therapy, forms of brief and single-session therapy and a special interest in Carers.

He is a member of the British Psychological Society, the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy (BABCP) and an international affiliate of the American Psychological Association.

Mani is a Senior Psychological Therapist (Primary Care speciality, NHS) and a Consultant Clinical Psychologist (Homelessness speciality, with Change Grow Live or CGL). Prior to clinical psychology training he worked as a researcher (interviewer/ assistant/ associate) on a number of research projects in the field of addictions (beginning with the 2^nd wave of the Birmingham Untreated Heavy Drinkers Project in 1999).  

Since 2007 much of his post-qualification career has also been in the field of addictions, working in a variety of settings, including a number of community alcohol and drug teams, detox units, and rehabs across the North West of England (beginning with the Windsor Clinic in Liverpool). Mani was redeployed to a Primary Care Psychological Therapy service in 2018, and in 2021 he resumed working in the addictions field when he started his current role with CGL, working in the Rough Sleepers Outreach Team in Manchester; he also briefly served as acting Head of Psychology for CGL (August 2023 to March 2024).  He has taught as a guest or honorary lecturer on the topic of addiction at several Clinical Psychology Doctorate training courses in the North West of England. 

He is a member of the British Psychological Society (and an Ordinary Member on of the BPS/ DCP Faculty of Addictions committee since 2023) and the Association of Clinical Psychologists UK, and he is registered with the Health and Care Professionals Council. Mani has postgraduate qualifications in Evolutionary Psychology (MPhil) and Personality Disorders (PGDip), and he is an accredited EMDR therapist. Mani has served as a Non-Alcoholic Trustee on the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous Great Britain (from 2016 to 2023; currently on sabbatical).

James is a Research Fellow at London South Bank University, with a particular interest in alcohol problems, stigma, framing and problem recognition. He recently worked for the Department of Health and Social Care on new clinical guidelines for alcohol treatment. James has 20 years of experience in the alcohol field and has lived experience of alcohol problems. 

He is the host of The Alcohol 'Problem' Podcast, which aims to explore the nature of problem drinking through a range of academic and lived experience perspectives. James has a background in public health, alcohol commissioning and behaviour change training. He is former Chair of the New Directions in the Study of Alcohol Group and has been an advisor for multiple alcohol research and policy projects, including for the Department of Health and the World Health Organisation.

Gabrial Segal is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at King's College, London. He has published extensively in philosophy of psychology and cognitive science. For the last ten years, his work has focused on the theory of addiction and recovery. He is co-editor, with Nick Heather, of Addiction & Choice: Rethinking the Relationship.