The Myth of Normal
Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture
Ratings26
Average rating3.9
15
Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture
Ratings26
Average rating3.9
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. In Canada, every fifth person has high blood pressure. In Europe, hypertension is diagnosed in more than 30 percent of the population. And everywhere, adolescent mental illness is on the rise. So what is really “normal” when it comes to health?
Over four decades of clinical experience, Maté has come to recognize the prevailing understanding of “normal” as false, neglecting the roles that trauma and stress, and the pressures of modern-day living, exert on our bodies and our minds at the expense of good health. For all our expertise and technological sophistication, Western medicine often fails to treat the whole person, ignoring how today’s culture stresses the body, burdens the immune system, and undermines emotional balance. Now Maté brings his perspective to the great untangling of common myths about what makes us sick, connects the dots between the maladies of individuals and the declining soundness of society—and offers a compassionate guide for health and healing. Co-written with his son Daniel, The Myth of Normal is Maté’s most ambitious and urgent book yet.
Reviews with the most likes.
This was definitely an important book about trauma and its impacts on our individual and social health. These topics of trauma are often not discussed enough. However, this book was so overwhelming with information about the deep and dark effects of trauma (addictions, homelessness, disease, etc). It felt as if we are doing everything wrong and nothing right that it left me with a lot of hopelessness. It was a very long book and it felt like it dumped all of this trauma on the reader with not a lot of solutions to actively solve the problem. Although it was very well researched and clearly the author knows what they are talking about, it left me feeling helpless knowing that there is all this trauma and not a lot of answers to how to change it.
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!
I love Gabor Maté's talks but while this book shares a good deal of information, it got tiresome and dry with a lot of anecdotal bits. It just felt a little all over the place and like the same information could have been presented in a more concise way.
The concept of mind-body relationship is one I agree with and suspected. It was also fascinating to read stories that seemed miraculous as I still also subscribed to the trust of Western medicine. However, the book was very long winded and used big words so it was a struggle to finish especially where it lagged in the middle.
