Works-in-Progress Series: The Reflections Project: Long Day's Journey Into Night & Addiction, by Ashley Hope

Works-in-Progress Series:
The Reflections Project: Long Day's Journey Into Night & Addiction

Ashley Hope

Eight thousand years ago, the Sumerians of lower Mesopotamia cultivated "joy plants", red flowers with seeds that were soon hungrily demanded by emperors all over the continent. From the opium poppy came laudanum, then morphine, and now synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which have precipitated the opioid crisis into an ongoing public health emergency. Unfortunately, treatment of opioid use disorder presents with a constellation of challenges including a lack of definitive treatment options, the dynamics of opioid neurobiology, and the societal stigma associated with addiction. The multifactorial etiology of opioid use disorder necessitates an interdisciplinary approach to its treatment.

The Reflections Project explores literature and performance as a medium for healing by promoting understanding, connection, and awareness. As a collaboration between the UCI School of Medicine and Claire Trevor School of Arts through the Center for Medical Humanities, a play reading of selected scenes from Long Day's Journey into Night was presented with an audience discussion with an interdisciplinary panel of medical professionals. This play won the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Eugene O'Neill's depiction of the Tyrone family struggling with the fallout of morphine addiction. Audience responses from patients, their friends and family, as well as medical professionals, found the play reading and panel discussion effective in improving the audience's understanding of addiction and willingness to participate in treatment. These preliminary findings show that the Reflections Project can be used as a model for using literature and performance to explore complex public health issues and medical questions.

Date: Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Time: 4-5 PM Pacific

Click HERE to Register