What No One is Telling You About Trauma and Addiction | Gabor Mate & Joe Polish

Gabor Maté deserves a Nobel prize for his work.

His soft-spoken voice is healing on its own.

Psychedelics saved my life. I was addicted to heroin for 12 years and after psilocybin treatment I will be 3 years clean in September. I have zero cravings. This is something that truly needs to be more broadly used in addiction treatment.

Totally agree - trauma disconnects you from yourself.

Yes, yes, yes! I have been listening to Dr Maté for years, and I am finally able to grieve my buried fears, angst and sadness - all of my small-t traumas that had haunted me for so long! My parents loved me and did the best that they could. I now see that they were, themselves, also traumatised, as likely were my grandparents who were immigrants in the 1890s. Learning from Gabor and now being able to reconnect to my emotions which I had numbed as a young child, has finally set me free of lifelong depression. I am now beginning to live the real me at 71! Thank you for your work and wisdom, Dr Maté!

The opposite of addiction is CONNECTION. ❤ Omg yes.

I worked as a medical provider in prison for 10 yrs and that was the exactly the truth. I was able to see through the inmate tough guy and got to know a lot of them. Building trust was my goal. I didn’t look at them as inmates, but rather patients that had some horrific pasts. I just hope I had a small impact on them. Gave them hope of a better future. I loved that job! That fulfilled me —then we closed. Lost another identity of myself.

He's just the most amazingly wise man of our time.

Parents need to ensure their primary schools/ teachers understand this. Teachers are perpetuating this by suppressing childrens emotions and also labeling behaviors as “bad”. Parents needs to voice their expectations if they notice & also discuss the teachers response to childrens emotions before the start of the school year.

“If u understood the Atmosphere and conditions of someone’s life it makes sense why they do what they do “. …..,..What a great statement

Every time i read his book, hear his book or listen to him talk i cry. So many emotions run wild in my head and i cry not only for me but every other person i know whose sufferings i could recognise and yet cant help directly. He is the only one who has taught me unconditional kindness

Gabor Mate is a rare visionary. I hope generations of Mate thinkers and feelers rise. Thank you Dr Mate! <3

I really love this guy. I had a rough childhood and grew up being open and vulnerable because I didn’t want to suppress my emotions and develop unhealthy anger. I was hoping that me sharing my story would illicit some empathy and compassion. I did get some understanding but ultimately some folks used parts of my story against me or to fuel gossip. In reflection I wouldn’t have done anything differently but I do appreciate speaking about society and culture. In the states it’s deemed sacrilege to criticize the larger culture. Just because a lot of people do something doesn’t make it inherently good or bad. America could use an inner upgrade. The incarceration rate, poverty rate and addiction rates are ridiculous for us being the “wealthiest” nation.

It's so interesting how this maps onto my family: I have three older sisters (9,8,5 years older). My parents were never extremly connected but my sisters had a fair run at life early. When my mom was pregnant with me, my dad started to gamble and become extremly domestically violent (projecting his shame and rage onto her). I grew up with extreme dysfunction and adversity as a "normal". And you can tell that I'm different from my sisters, struggling with personal relationships, job security, ADHD, depression and what not. I'm also the only one looking at our family story, and have done very well in terms of emotional awareness (I'm an academic and a writer). And yet, superficially, you can tell from my general life struggles how my early early years have hurt me in comparison to my sisters.

This man talks a lot of sense. This world needs healing ❤

I was abandoned by my mother and put into a group home at 12 she lied about me that I was so horrible and she can’t handle me anymore thinking back I wasn’t even bad I didn’t smoke weed or drink yet I had a friend over that told me the smell of crack cocaine and I didn’t know what it was till that day and I was so embarrassed about it and my friend being there knowing what it was I got upset and told her to stop smoking it in the house and called her a drug addict I was hurt and scared already embarrassed because I knew now that people were going to know she was doing it and in the house with my friends over after I got mad about it her group of friends left my mother got mad and called child protective services to come and get me say I was out of control and she couldn’t gain control over me I was so bad she couldn’t handle me and so on they came picked me up took me to the group home my mother smiled and waved bye to me as I was crying in the car this has been a situation that caused me to have severe abandonment issues I don’t know how to love myself I am always trying to understand why I wasn’t good enough to be loved by her so I been surviving on my own since the age of twelve and still have trauma till this day trying to understand what I did so bad why did she think I was so horrible and unlovable?? Questions I still at 37 ask myself and try to figure out every day because I have lived a lifetime of trauma in the system I was already broken when I was put in it at 12 afterwards I had to survive and I did start getting myself into trouble and into the wrong crowd I have been traumatized over amd over again throughout my life and not one therapist has ever talked to me about trauma and how I developed addiction to numb my life of feeling like I’m not worthy or lovable by anyone I hope trauma is something that the mental health and addiction services will pick up and take a good look at the connection maybe then there might be hope for me

I work in a child residential care home. Your work inspires me and I try everyday to help the kids in my care to look at the world in a different way and to accept what has happened to them and to let go of the past and hopefully give them the guidance to move forward in life. Thank you x

I always thought it was nonsense that human nature is reportedly “selfish, aggressive, and competitive.” and I appreciate that Maté brings this question. Any mammoth will tell you that humans are very fragile, and would only survive by being fraternal with other humans.

Thank you guys!!! My mom was drunk before I was born and until I was 8. She raged if she was awakened while drunk, I learned very quickly to not make noise. ☯️

It’s our own responsibility to cultivate and nurture peace within ourselves. 🧘‍♀️