Dr. Davies is fellowship trained in Addiction Medicine and certified by The American Board of Addiction Medicine. He maintains appointments at Florida State University where he regularly lectures and mentors medical students, patients and family members on topics that he is passionate about. These topics include healing from tobacco addiction and the physical, emotional and spiritual underpinnings of the disease we call addiction. This presentation will explore the physiological side of addiction and how drug and alcohol addiction are truly brain illnesses that change the brain in fundamental and lasting ways. Dr. Davies will explore how addiction is now considered a chronic medical problem affecting the brain similar to hypertension and diabetes; effecting the basic chemical makeup of the human brain and how it functions. He will also address the necessary principles of successful treatment including: treatment of psychiatric disorders, addressing traumatic events of childhood & the past, utilizing 12 step principles, becoming aware of triggers that are hard wired in the brain and learning new methods of coping with real life such as meditation and breathing techniques.