Addiction: Mind over matter?

Smoking rates are declining in high income countries, but in the UK the prevalence of smoking is still over 15%, which means that several million adults smoke. Given the enormous health consequences of smoking, understanding why people smoke is key to reducing the number starting, and helping those who already smoke to stop. I will talk about how cigarettes – from the tobacco they contain to their construction – are designed to be highly addictive, what role genetics plays in smoking, and what treatments are available to help people stop. This will include what we know about vaping.

There is considerable clinical and research interest in determining the nature of the relationship between anxiety and alcohol use. Despite a wealth of scientific evidence, the relationship remains unclear. In this talk, I will introduce the complexities of the relationship between anxiety and alcohol use, discuss methods used by researchers to investigate this relationship, and present some of our research findings from the Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group. Understanding how mental health and substance use are linked will help determine where financial and human resources are best placed.