We don’t want to go back to it, because my contention in this book is what we consider to be normal in this society is actually neither natural or healthy, and, in fact, it’s a cause of much human pathology, mental and physical. The normal that we came from, in my perspective, was already a toxic normal. It showed the noxious effect of racism and inequality, because the people who had the greatest risk for being affected by COVID were those of a lower social class and of people of color. But this is in a culture that has been isolating and atomizing individuals for a long time, where loneliness has been an epidemic for decades. ![]() GABOR MATÉ: So, the pandemic actually revealed to us how toxic our idea of normal has been, because it showed us the desperate need for human connection that we all have. I began by asking him about the pandemic and the book title, The Myth of Normal.ĭR. On Thursday, Democracy Now!’s Nermeen Shaikh and I spoke to Gabor Maté. Maté will be appearing tonight in New York City at the 92nd Street Y. He’s just written a new book with his son Daniel titled The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture. Gabor Maté, who is our guest for the hour. TIM McCARTHY: I think the biggest thing that this whole healing journey has taught me is how to be human.ĪMY GOODMAN: The trailer for the film The Wisdom of Trauma, featuring Dr. Solutions arise out of people when they confront themselves with the truth, when they’re not afraid of the truth. GABOR MATÉ: Yeah, I just want people to see the truth. TESSA ROSE: I don’t feel like I’m a bad person anymore.ĭR. GABOR MATÉ: Thank you for being in touch. If we had a trauma-informed society, we would have a society that looks much more compassionate. We need trauma-informed medical care, trauma-informed education. But the average teacher never gives a single lecture on trauma. Our schools are full of kids with learning difficulties, mental health issues, that are trauma-based. ![]() And these are the people that our society rewards with power. GABOR MATÉ: That’s exactly what I’m saying. They were two traumatized people fighting to govern a traumatized world.ĭR. RUSSELL BRAND: Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump. GABOR MATÉ: In my view, people that develop cancer have a hard time expressing healthy anger. You’ve been diagnosed with prostate cancer.ĭR. Literally, it causes inflammation in the body and suppresses the immune system. People are much more lonely and isolated than they used to be. In other words, by the time you were 5 years old, you were completely alone. GABOR MATÉ: Who would you speak to about your pain?ĭR. What do you want tell me? What comes up right now?ĪLICIA: My father, he would spank us and take a belt to us.ĭR. So, trauma is not the bad things that happen to you, but what happens inside you as a result of what happens to you. You look at people, and you see all their trauma and damage. RUSSELL BRAND:* So, you’re sort of a bit like in The Matrix when Neo sees everything’s made out of numbers. Why do we get disconnected? Because it’s too painful to be ourselves. And the trauma is the disconnection from it, and the healing is the reconnection with it. GABOR MATÉ: Every human being has a true, genuine, authentic self. GABOR MATÉ: And so, the question is: Can we be human beings in the midst of civilization? Because what we call civilization demands the denial of human needs.ĪNNOUNCER: Please welcome Dr. UNIDENTIFIED: It’s easy to want to want to escape reality completely instead of coping with it.ĭR. Asthma and autoimmune diseases are on the rise, as are addictions. Anxiety amongst young people is growing rapidly. ![]() GABOR MATÉ: In the U.S., the richest society in history, fully half of the citizens have a chronic disorder, such as high blood pressure or diabetes. Gabor Maté, but first I want to turn to a trailer of a documentary about his work titled The Wisdom of Trauma.ĭR. Over the years, he’s written a number of best-selling books, including In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction, When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection and Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder. Maté’s work has long focused on the centrality of early childhood experiences to the development of the brain, and how those experiences can impact everything from behavioral patterns to physical and mental illness. Maté has worked for decades in Vancouver as a family physician, palliative care director, addiction clinician and observer of human health. He’s just out with a new book, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture. Gabor Maté, the acclaimed Canadian physician and author. AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!,, The War and Peace Report.
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