The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture
Gabor Maté
By the acclaimed author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, a groundbreaking investigation into the causes of illness, a bracing critique of how our society breeds disease, and a pathway to health and healing. In this revolutionary book, renowned physician Gabor Maté eloquently dissects how in Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two. more
576 pages, Hardcover
First published Avery
4.32
Rating
17545
Ratings
1903
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Gabor Maté
45 books 5564 followers
Dr Gabor Maté (CM) is a Hungarian-born Canadian physician who specializes in the study and treatment of addiction and is also widely recognized for his unique perspective on Attention Deficit Disorder and his firmly held belief in the connection between mind and body health.Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1944, he is a survivor of the Nazi genocide. His maternal grandparents were killed in Auschwitz when he was five months old, his aunt disappeared during the war, and his father endured forced labour at the hands of the Nazis.
He emigrated to Canada with his family in 1957. After graduating with a B.A. from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and a few years as a high school English and literature teacher, he returned to school to pursue his childhood dream of being a physician.
Maté ran a private family practice in East Vancouver for over twenty years. He was also the medical co-ordinator of the Palliative Care Unit at Vancouver Hospital for seven years. Currently he is the staff physician at the Portland Hotel, a residence and resource centre for the people of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Many of his patients suffer from mental illness, drug addiction and HIV, or all three.
Most recently, he has written about his experiences working with addicts in In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts.
He made national headlines in defense of the physicians working at Insite (a legal supervised safe injection site) after the federal Minister of Health, Tony Clement, attacked them as unethical.
Community reviews
The Myth of Jordan Peterson. Preamble:--Before you celebrate or groan, let me clarify that direct mentions of Jordan Peterson are only featured in one chapter, on parenting. Peterson’s 2018 best-seller (12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, see link for review) is, after all, cleverly packaged as a self-help book, so it features plenty of vague “See the truth. Tell the truth. ”, “order and chaos” generalities to lure us in and interpret in our own ways if our confirmation biases are susceptible to his convenient omissions/framing. more
I haven’t written many reviews this year, but as one of this book’s earlier readers, I feel a duty to write one before it becomes a bestseller. The Myth of Normal is a book that this world needs right now. It’s unlike Dr. Gabor’s other books, where he chose one topic (addiction, ADHD, etc) and ran with it. This time he’s going big. more
And once again Gabor has me questioning everything I thought I knew about myself. I've noticed the negative reviews will usually say 1 of 2 things: This book is pessimistic without offering decent solutions and that there is a lot of parent-blaming. I think this depends on the reader and what their intention is going into this book. What some saw as doom-inducing analysis with no happy-ending, I saw as an opportunity to see the full scope of environmental influences, the ones my trauma-informed personality never let me see. I felt lighter with each page, dissecting all the oppressive beliefs I had never questioned. more
Audiobook…. read by Daniel Mate …. 18 hours and 12 minutes “The Myth of Normal”, was written by father and son:renowned physician Gabor Mate and his son Daniel Mate. While listening to 18 hours of the cultural causes of illnesses and disease —and how society is failing us…. my own mind was going berserk. more
An essential text of hard-won wisdom from one of our culture’s wisest leaders. Gabor touches on all facets of culture and society, from psychoneurobiology, to addiction, to what it means to be alive, offering insight, some hope, and the world’s most stunning bibliography of resources. Buttressed with research and personal story, it’s also a beautiful read. more
Imagine this: You take your car into the shop, and the mechanic, reputed to be a mechanical genius, tells you all about your car, how it works, and how it can stop working correctly. Turns out how the car was made is important. Influences and so forth. You nod to show interest. You're assured this guy knows his business. more
2. 5 ⭐ Some parts of this book were really good and resonated with me. Many parts didn't and the further I got into the book the more I skipped and sometimes scanned as a result of it. Too many anecdotes of famous and unknown people, that get tiresome after a while. Too broad too all over the place. more
This is a philosophy book pretending to be a pure science book, and I wish it had been a little more honest in that regard. I actually do find the ideas compelling (that trauma exacerbates or can be the root of illness, and that current society exposes people to potentially traumatic situations in many forms). I think they're well worth exploring. I also appreciated the strong support of /some/ of the cited science, such as the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study. On the other hand, I felt that the citations for many topics were not as robust or sufficient. more
Trigger Warning: Inherently this book is about trauma. Various topics are discussed with real life examples included. Ensure you use caution when reading. “In the most health-obsessed society ever, all is not well”Maté gets right into it – drawing you in with some surprising statistics from around the globe and right here at home in Canada. It is fascinating. more
Rating: 2. 5Gabor Maté is a physician-author who has long been interested in the psychological and social factors that impact patients’ health. He’s written books on ADHD, addiction, and psychosomatic medicine, and co-authored one on child development. In all his books, he’s demonstrated particular interest in attachment theory—ideas concerning children’s relationships with primary caregivers—and the long-lasting effects of distressing early-life experiences. “Health and illness are not random states in a particular body or body part,” he writes in his new book. more
tl;dr: A long, rambling book about the effect (real and perceived) of trauma on the body with some really good points, and some really terrible points. Talk about a polarizing book, woo. This was a long, and exhausting journey to get through. There are some really valuable points in this book, but, unfortunately, it is a scattered mess that also takes it to extremes. The bad thing about taking it to extremes is you then throw away all the valid points made in the book, because people's brains just shut off and say 'well, the whole thing must be bad' when that isn't the case. more
This is my first Maté title. Co written with his son, he describes the process, chapter by chapter each taking their turn, and if Gabor was 'stuck' he'd reach out to his son to fix things up for him. I think this was a good collaboration considering family of origin, and trauma is a large component. The author has experienced many things the every day person has not, but he also touches on his addiction to overwork, and the way his family suffered due to this. His sons have diagnosis, as does he. more
This is a sobering book about the toxicity of our society and how to make things better. While I enjoy the author's voice and respect his scholarship, this was too much to be packed in to a single book. In some ways, it overwhelms the reader. If you buy this, approach it a bit at a time. Otherwise it can be like trying to take a sip of water from a fire-hydrant. more
i’m gonna be honest, i had higher expectations given how much this book was promoted on a lot of influential podcasts that i enjoy. while the principles of this book (treating patients with autonomy, the impact of small traumas, and healing/therapy/meditation/mindfulness) are important, it lacks scientific rigor and relies on a lot of “anecdata”. . more
I wanted to finish once on for all with Mr Gabor Mate. I listened recently his 2003 book about the body saying no. 18 years passed before this latest book. Did something changed. Hard to believe but yes it did, but for the worse . more
Gabor Mate is a genius, I love his work. He speaks a lot of common sense and logic. He is ahead of the curve in promoting holistic medicine. His stance conveys firstly that a whole person should be treated, rather than symptoms; and secondly, that addressing “cause” may be more important than solving an "effect". The book is underpinned by his belief that body and mind are intrinsically connected. more
لب کلام این کتاب کت و کلفت را میتوان در چند جمله خلاصه کرد: در جامعهی مدرن، عملا تمام افراد گرفتار تروما هستند. سرچشمهی همهشان هم آسیبهای دوران کودکی است. این آسیبها نیز به نوبهی خود محصول نظامی ارزشیاند متکی بر فردگرایی، توانایی، اتکا به خود، پشتکار و موفقیت. فرهنگ رایج این تروما را عادی جلوه میدهد و اگر هم به آسیبزاییاش اقرار کند، آن را به عوامل زیستشناختی منسوب میکند و سعی دارد دلیل اصلی و فرهنگی آن را پنهان کند: کاپیتالیسمراه حل نویسنده هم طبعا از میان بردن کاپیتالیسم و برپایی نظام "شفابخشی" است که همهی آسیبدیدگان را، بیچون و چرا، میپذیرد. چارهاش هم یک انقلاب آرمانی است که ما را از شر این جامعهی فاسد خلاص کندبه تعبیر دیگر، اگر ژانژاک روسو روانپزشک* میبود، یحتمل چنین کتابی مینوشت. more
This is Mate's best book yet. I think having his son as a co-author really helped, because I thought the writing was more evocative and clear than his other books. Myth of Normal goes way further into many subjects that Mate has talked about before, as well as some new topics. There are chapters on pregnancy and prenatal development, politics, race, class, and gender; social media, depression - and a bunch of other salient topics that are all intertwined in how people interact with the world and deal with trauma/are traumatized. This will definitely be a book I re-read and I will recommend it widely. more
This book did a really good job at depicting how trauma is a wound and injury. Thus we should be curious about the experiences of people versus being prone to following the DSM-5. This book also did a good job on tackling how toxic culture and trauma play a role in our society and made inferences of how our society will change and is changing. ‘There is so many notable moments in the book that it made it difficult to just listen to this book on audiobook. I hope to own the physical copy one day so I can highlight, re again and add my thoughts along the way. more
This book is such a gift - Gabor Maté’s work here is a revelation as he takes a deep dive into some of the most challenging and complex parts of what it means to be human. Maté surgically disassembles our culture’s atomized and individualistic self help obsession as an avenue for personal growth and healing and instead emphasizes a process of “self retrieval. ” A discovery of the parts of ourselves we’ve locked away as a result of trauma developed from our relationships and larger culture milieu. America has a cruel obsession with blaming people for their circumstances and poor choices, as well as a conservative-driven stance that social safety nets and critical analysis of “isms” are signifiers of people’s laziness and refusal to take accountability for their actions. Maté skillfully dispels these notions and illuminates how our environment shapes us on a cellular and neurological level - while also identifying capitalism, racism, and sexism as predictors and developers of illness and trauma. more
Gabors' "The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture," is a text screaming to the current state of society (POVID19) many face now e. g. after being sequestered in a box called home/dosed with fear---this is a guide for achieving emancipation. Trauma is not light matter, nor is the treatment of such. Creating conditions to heal is paramount to recovery. more
یک زمانی از این سبک کتاب بیشتر لذت میبردم. الان هم شاید دلیل مشکلم باهاش با تمرکز کم و در حین رانندگی گوش کردن بهش باشه. الان انگار در یک برزخ طوریم که دلم کتاب غیر داستانی میخواد و گاهی ادبیات، اما توجه به تنها زمانی که میتونم کتاب گوش بدم، انگار فیکشن برام مناسب تره. جملهی اولم رو بیشتر توضیح بدم. یک زمانی برام جالب بود کتاب صفحه به صفحه و سطر به سطر ریسرچ بررسی کنه. more
I have always been deeply skeptical of anything in the world of "alternative medicine," which for much of my life included anything about the mind-body connection. Criticisms of Western Medicine, often tinged with a vague, New Age Spiritualism, seemed deluded at best and dangerous at worst. But having made it through the worst period of health in my life so far, I've changed my mind, at least partly. I paid thousands of dollars, saw dozens of health care specialists, tried so many different medications, all to be told that no one could really figure out exactly what was wrong with me. I know healing is a process, but right now, I feel like I'm back to how I felt before the problems began - and my solution was a combination of medication AND something even stranger. more
During the pandemic, I started studying Mate’s material. During these two years, I have been deeply immersed in a process of letting go the need of being nice and staring to be true and honest to my innermost needs. This book served to reinforce the messages that I am incorporating into my automatic behaviors. I specially appreciated the passages, within this book, where Dr. Mate explains exactly what healthy anger expression looks like. more
I read all of Gábor Máté's books and loved them all. Had high expectations for this one and boy was I surprised to find out this book is absolutely trash. I feel fooled. Im not sure what happened to him but he totally turned into a leftist sjw type crybaby who speaks about how difficult it is for any "marginalized" group while neglecting any type of responsibility an individual should take in his/her life. How sad it is to see the world through a glass where everyone is a victim, everyone is weak, everyone is a prisoner of his or her past/environment. more
I started off really enjoying this and the focus on trauma. There’s a lot of wisdom between these (virtual) covers but by the end it felt like too much was going on and it had drifted into flabbiness and oversimplification. I especially felt that the examples of remission by those declining treatment failed to balance the many cases where such decisions lead to unhappy and painful deaths. The book loses caution and nuance and becomes supercilious, even though there are moments of authorial vulnerability. The celebrity examples also rubbed me the wrong way. more
DNFfirst he said this racist bs, “Imagine our African ancestor on the savana, sensing the presence of some natural predator”then he said “so called mental illness” describing ADHD, depression and anxiety i cannot get past the completely inaccurate claims that there is not a biological component to mental illnessgood bye sir. more
Start to finish 497 pages of brilliance. . more
Не всичко, което виждаме може да бъде променено, но нищо не може да се промени докато не го видим. more
Much of this book resonated with me. It’s best described as a well-meaning smorgasbord of anecdote, personal reflection, and pop science / psychology (Jungian), with a smattering of Buddhism and post-colonialist leftist politics. I related to his characterization that the core of our emotional well-being is established by the difficult emotional trade-offs we make between our need for attachment and our need for authenticity. But then he attempts to expand the notion bullseye-like from the individual psyche to the society as a whole, with less success. It’s not terribly original to point out that early life trauma - and by early I mean really early, like in vitro - may have lasting impacts. more