Gabor Maté, MD, is a physician, author, seminar leader, and
acclaimed public speaker. His bestselling books include Scattered,
When the Body Says No, and Hold onto Your Kids. In 2022, he also
co-authored The Myth of Normal, the instant New York Times
bestseller, with his son, Daniel Maté. A former medical columnist
for The Vancouver Sun and The Globe and Mail, Dr. Gabor Maté lives
in Vancouver, BC.
Peter A. Levine, PhD, holds doctorates in both medical
biophysics and psychology. He developed Somatic Experiencing, a
body-awareness approach to trauma treatment, and his bestselling
book Waking the Tiger has been translated into 22 languages. His
other works include In an Unspoken Voice, Healing Trauma, Trauma
and Memory, and Trauma Through a Child’s Eyes. He lives in
Encinitas, CA.
“I recommend this wonderful book for anyone struggling with the
heartache of addiction personally or professionally. Dr. Maté makes
the thought-provoking and powerful arguments that human connections
heal; and that the poverty of relationships in the modern world
contribute to our vulnerability to unhealthy addictions of all
manner. His uniquely humane perspective—all too absent from much of
the ‘modern’ approach to addictions—should be a part of the
training of all therapists, social workers, and physicians.”
—Bruce Perry, MD, PhD, co-author of The Boy Who Was Raised as a
Dog
“A riveting account of human cravings, this book needs to get into
as many hands as possible. Maté’s resonant, unflinching analysis of
addiction today shatters the assumptions underlying our War on
Drugs.”
—Norm Stamper, former Seattle Chief of Police and author of
Breaking Rank
“In this brilliant and well-documented book, Gabor Maté locates the
source of addictions in the trauma of an emotionally empty
childhood, making it a relational rather than a medical problem.
Such a radical thesis of cause leads to human connection rather
than traditional treatment as the cure. This passionate and
compassionate book, filled with scientific evidence and personal
narratives, should be on the shelf of every person interested in
the pervasive challenge of addiction.”
—Harville Hendrix, PhD, author of Getting the Love You Want and
cofounder of Imago Relationship Therapy
“Dr. Maté’s latest book is a moving, debate-provoking, and
multi-layered look at how addiction arises, the people afflicted
with it and why he supports decriminalization of all drugs,
including crystal meth.… [In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts] reads not
only as a lively textbook analysis of the physiological and
psychological causes of drug addiction, but also as an
investigation into his heart and mind.”
—The Globe and Mail
“In this comprehensive and courageous book … Maté relates, with
compassion and honesty, the poignant stories of severe substance
addicts – the hungry ghosts, in Buddhist-realm terminology – whom
he treats. And it is the addicts’ stories and the clear logic of
the latest science and statistics that Maté shares which convince
the reader that society’s attitudes toward, and treatment of,
addiction must change. …. This 480-page tome, exhausting in
delineating and substantiating its causes, remains a remarkably
lyrical, engaging read.”
—In Recovery Magazine
“It’s time to give Maté … the Order of Canada for this erudite and
sensitive book about the lives of Downtown Eastside
intravenous-drug users, the neurobiology of addiction, and the
folly of the war on drugs. It’s compulsively readable and packed
with new scientific discoveries about addiction. If you know the
parent or sibling of an addict—or the prime minister, for that
matter—please give him this book.”
—The Georgia Straight
“Gabor Maté’s connections—between the intensely personal and the
global, the spiritual and the medical, the psychological and the
political—are bold, wise and deeply moral. He is a healer to be
cherished and this exciting book arrives at just the right
time.”
—Naomi Klein, author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine
“With unparalleled sympathy for the human condition, Gabor Maté
depicts the suffocation of the spirit by addictive urges, and holds
up a dark mirror to our society. This is a powerful narrative of
the realm of human nature where confused and conflicted emotions
underlie our pretensions to rational thought.”
—Dr. Jaak Panksepp, Distinguished Research Professor of
Psychobiology, Bowling Green University, Adjunct Professor of
Psychiatry, Medical College of Ohio, and author of Affective
Neuroscience
“With superb descriptive talents, Gabor Maté takes us into the
lives of the emotionally destitute and addicted human beings who
are his patients. In this highly readable and penetrating book, he
gives us the disturbing truths about the nature of addiction and
its roots in people’s early years–truths that are usually concealed
by time and protected by shame, secrecy, and social taboo.”
—Vincent Felitti, MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of
California, and Co-Principal Investigator, Adverse Childhood
Experiences Study
“Dr. Gabor Maté distills the suffering of injection-drug users into
moving case histories and reveals how clearly he himself, as a
music collector and workaholic physician, fits his own definition
of addiction. Informed by the new research on brain chemistry, he
proposes sensible drug laws to replace the War on Drugs. Inspired
by the evolving spirituality that underlies his life and work, he
outlines practical ways of overcoming addiction. This is not a
fix-it book to hurry through, but a deep analysis to reflect
upon.”
—Dr. Bruce Alexander, Professor Emeritus (Psychology), Simon Fraser
University, and author of The Globalization of Addiction
“Maté’s subjects are the living, breathing embodiment of Canada’s
grimmest statistics for HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, homelessness, crime,
abuse, neglect, overdose, and death. More than merely poor and
disenfranchised, they are truly the lowest of the low, reviled by
society and demonized by law enforcement. [In the Realm of Hungry
Ghosts] is enormously compelling and Maté is admirably, sometimes
inexplicably, empathetic to all who cross his path.”
—Toronto Star
“[In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts] shows an unflinching look at
addiction… Dr. Maté makes observations that cut through all the
myths and misinterpretations about addicts and how they live… There
are many nuggets of wisdom and insight throughout the book. Readers
can literally pick up the book and leaf to any chapter and begin
reading—and learn something valuable. It’s never boring, never
condescending, never too much to read.”
—Addiction Treatment Magazine
“[Gabor Maté], a front-line professional combating addiction in
Canada, questions the premise that addiction is a choice that
people make. If people are diseased or predisposed or making a
moral compromises through their own free will, then society is
allowed to simplify a complicated issue and avoid any share of the
responsibility. For instance, the thesis of this book criticizes
the criminal justice’s unscientific assumption that drug addicts
are culpable because they choose to do drugs. Does that make sense
– people want to, choose to be addicted?”
—Addiction Magazine
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