The Myth of Normal
Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture
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4.6 • 37 Ratings
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“This riveting and beautifully written tale has profound implications for all of our lives, including the practice of medicine and mental health.” —Bessel van der Kolk, MD, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Body Keeps the Score
“Wise, sophisticated, rigorous and creative: an intellectual and compassionate investigation of who we are and who we may become. Essential reading for anyone with a past and a future.” —Tara Westover, New York Times bestselling author of Educated
“The Myth of Normal is a book literally everyone will be enriched by—a wise, profound and healing work that is the culmination of Dr. Maté's many years of deep and painfully accumulated wisdom.” —Johann Hari, New York Times bestselling author of Stolen Focus
“Gabor and Daniel Maté have delivered a book in which readers can seek refuge and solace during moments of profound personal and social crisis. The Myth of Normal is an essential compass during disorienting times.” —Esther Perel, psychotherapist, author, and host of Where Should We Begin
From our most trusted and compassionate authority on stress, trauma, and mental well-being—a groundbreaking investigation into the causes of illness, a bracing critique of how our society breeds disease, and a pathway to health and healing.
Gabor Maté’s internationally bestselling books have changed the way we look at addiction and have been integral in shifting the conversations around ADHD, stress, disease, embodied trauma, and parenting. Now, in this revolutionary book, he eloquently dissects how in Western countries that pride themselves on their health care systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. So what is really “normal” when it comes to 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. In The Myth of Normal, co-written with his son Daniel, 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. The result is Maté’s most ambitious and urgent book yet.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
“I’m constantly picking up new books to read, and I thought it’d be fun to have others read alongside—hence, Strombo’s Lit was born,” says George Stroumboulopoulos about his latest pick. “What I love about book clubs is seeing and hearing other people’s stories as they absorb someone else’s on the page, all while fostering a community of people with a collective passion for poetic perspectives. In The Myth of Normal, we’ll look through Gabor’s eyes as he explains how our society has fallen apart and why he remains optimistic that healing is possible for all of humanity.” Trauma and addiction expert Dr. Gabor Maté and his son Daniel expose the devastating link between psychological suffering and physical illness in this eye-opening read. So much of what is “normal” in our society includes painful issues like racism, repression, and economic inequality. And as Maté explains, there’s a correlation between the experience of these norms and the onset of significant health problems that’s too compelling to ignore. He illustrates this through real, fascinating cases. We were floored to read about a woman who recovered from a debilitating autoimmune disorder only after confronting being sexually abused as a child. A strong believer in feeling all your feelings, Maté offers great insight into recontextualizing the way you think about your own experiences. Get ready to start healing with The Myth of Normal.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Physician Maté (In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts) delivers a sweeping analysis of the relationship between illness, trauma, and capitalism. "Our social and economic culture generates chronic stressors that undermine well-being," contends Maté, suggesting that medical treatment should better attend to the mind-body connection and the impact of one's environment on one's health. Though Maté tells of surviving hunger and disease as an infant in Hungary during WWII, he mostly focuses on the traumas of day-to-day life, including how pregnant mothers' stress about employment or healthcare may lead to behavioral problems in their children, and how the effects of racism and poverty lead to lower life expectancies. The author details the role that emotions might play in somatic illness, citing studies that found, among patients admitted for biopsy, those with suppressed anger were more likely to have malignant tumors. Maté brings compassion to his examination of societal failures and elucidates how addiction is often an attempt to quell the pain of having been abused. Maté marshals an impressive amount of research to outline an original and persuasive vision of health focused on environmental influences and the interplay between the mind and body, though the extensive studies mentioned sometimes verge on redundancy. Nevertheless, this bold reappraisal has the power to change how readers think about health.
Customer Reviews
Healing insights aplenty
This book holds so much understanding of why we are the way we are and a path to healing for self and society.
Not Worth Buying
In my view, there was too much spiritual awakening nonsense that I found had a rambling nature to it. Especially in the last few pages.