The Myth of Normal

1 bestseller, Beautiful Boy

"As if Gabor Maté hasn t done enough already by depathologizing addiction, autoimmune diseases, and ADHD; now, in this magnum opus, he challenges us to expand our minds even further. In The Myth of Normal, he asserts that those problems, and the many other social ills that plague us, are not only related to the traumas we suffered but are also symptoms of the toxic nature of our materialistic, isolating, patriarchal, and racist culture. What s remarkable about this beautifully written book is not just that he makes that bold contention, but how well he backs it up with an amazing amount of scientific research, compelling stories of his patients, and moving disclosures from his own life. Our culture is, indeed, very sick and I don t know of a better diagnostician of and physician for it than Gabor Mate. This book contains a prescription that, if we have the courage to follow, will heal us all."--Richard Schwartz, PhD creator of the Internal Family Systems Model

"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

"This gripping book builds upon two key truths for our time, that everything is connected, including psychic wounds and physical illnesses, and that these are not anomalies but ordinary, even epidemic, in the society we ve built. The Myth of Normal is a powerful call for change in how we live with, love, understand, treat, and think about each other, by someone ideally situated to map the terrain and to give us some valuable tools with which to navigate it." Rebecca Solnit, author of Men Explain Things to Me

"In this wide-ranging and beautifully written book, Gabor Maté and his co-writer son Daniel offer an acute diagnosis of what ails our culture and a blueprint for personal healing, while pointing the way to what is required to create a more hospitable, human-friendly world for ourselves and our children."--Dr. Shefali, New York Times bestselling author and clinical psychologist

"Gabor Maté s latest book is a guide to self-awareness, social insight and healing that is deeply personal and utterly transparent. It merits becoming this generation's The Road Less Traveled. Written with fluid, crystalline prose, profound wisdom, great humor and hard-won humility, in my two-word summation The Myth of Normal is Fiercely Tender."--William M. Watson, S.J., D.Min., President & Founder, Sacred Story Institute

"The Myth of Normal is a detailed and wide-ranging look at what we all need to know--but all too often fail to live into--when it comes to human health, sanity, maturation, and happiness. It's also a clear-eyed examination of the benefits, triumphs, limitations, and blind spots of our health and mental health care system."--Resmaa Menakem, bestselling author of My Grandmother's Hands, The Quaking of America, and Monsters in Love

"The Myth of Normal is a tour de force journey into the dissonant experience of being human in our aberrant and toxic modern culture. The journey is both heart-rending and exalted in its underlying purpose to heal the rift from our authentic selves and the collective trauma that stifles our natural expression and joy. If you are ready to do the brave and life-shaking work of examining the truth of your life and the culture that we are literally in the death grips of this is your read."--Rachel Carlton Abrams, MD, MHS, ABoIM

"The Myth of Normal presents a unique perspective in viewing what we see as 'normal" and opens up a way to wake up to what is real and authentic in our lives. Gabor and Daniel Maté have written a compelling book which will challenge your views and help lift the veil of illusion to what is truly happening in your mind and in your body."--Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Happiness

"With rigorous research and painstaking detail, this book by esteemed physician Gabor Maté is a tour de force manifesto of how trauma impacts not just our individual bodies and psyches but our whole society. The Myth of Normal plants seeds for revitalizing what we consider 'normal' and giving ourselves permission to say no to what is making us unnecessarily sick."--Lissa Rankin, MD, New York Times bestselling author or Mind Over Medicine and Sacred Medicine

"This, Gabor Maté's magnum opus, is essential reading for us all. A genius writer, he gives it to us straight: From the mindbody to the body politic, we learn how loss of authenticity takes its toll psychologically, physically, spiritually, and socially."--Julie Holland, MD, author, Good Chemistry: The Science of Connection, From Soul to Psychedelics

"Every once in a rare while a book comes along creating a new vision of the world, illuminating for us that which until now has been invisible, yet as vital to our health and well-being as water is to fish, oxygen is for our bodies, and love is for our souls. This work is such a tour de force, a humbling and brilliantly written exposition of what deeper healing requires."--Jeffrey D. Rediger, MD, MDiv, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School, Author, CURED: Strengthen Your Immune System and Heal Your Life.

"Gabor Maté is brilliant and passionate, tender and fierce, writing with an urgent honesty. His analysis is comprehensive and penetrating, combining deep scholarship, hard-earned clinical wisdom, personal trauma, and practical suggestions. This is a masterwork that reads like an intelligent thriller, highlighting our challenges with dramatic clarity while showing the way to their solutions. A must-have book for anyone interested in their own mind, in how our world got so crazy, and in the better future we can forge together."--Rick Hanson, Ph.D., author of Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness

"In The Myth of Normal, Gabor Maté exposes what happens when society becomes the addict, and how can we heal as a society. This is a book for our times--no, rather it is the book for our times. An illumination to therapists and healers, it is much more than that...Read and discover. --Peter A Levine, author of Waking the Tiger and In an Unspoken Voice

"A sweeping analysis of the relationship between illness, trauma, and capitalism...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."--Publishers Weekly




"In The Myth of Normal, Gabor Maté takes us on an epic journey of discovery about how our emotional well-being, and our social connectivity (in short: how we live), is intimately intertwined with health, disease and addictions. Chronic mental and physical illnesses may not be separate and distinct diseases, but intricate, multilayered processes that reflect (mal)adaptations to the cultural context that we live in, and the values we live by. This riveting and beautifully written tale has profound implications for all of our lives, including the practice of medicine and mental health."--Bessel A. van der Kolk MD, President, Trauma Research Foundation, Professor of psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine,