“The contrasts between traditional multigenerational cultures and today's North American society are striking. In modern urbanized North America — and in other… — Gabor Maté American society Copy Share Image
“Vulnerability is usually attacked, not with fists but with shaming. Many children learn quickly to cover up any signs of weakness, sensitivity,… — Gabor Maté Best friend Copy Share Image
“The only reason for a child not to be aware of his own vulnerability is that it has become too much to… — Gabor Maté Children Copy Share Image
“Intuitively we all know that it is better to feel than to not feel. Our emotions are not a luxury but an… — Gabor Maté Children Copy Share Image
“attachment is the first priority of living things. It is only when there is some release from this preoccupation that maturation can… — Gabor Maté Bearing fruit Copy Share Image
“For purposes of child-rearing, the crowning achievement of a working attachment is to instill in a child the desire to be good.… — Gabor Maté Children Copy Share Image
“Just as an adult-oriented child is more vulnerable in relationship to his parents and teachers, peer-oriented kids are more so in relationship… — Gabor Maté Child Copy Share Image
“Despite the best efforts of many physicians, Mary died in Vancouver Hospital eight years after her diagnosis, succumbing to the complications of… — Gabor Maté Little Sisters Copy Share Image
“To expect an addict to give up her drug is like asking the average person to imagine living without all her social… — Gabor Maté Copy Share Image
“The culture generated by peer-orientation is sterile in the strict sense of that word: it is unable to reproduce itself or to… — Gabor Maté Culture Copy Share Image
“Parenting, in short, is a dance of the generations. Whatever affected one generation but has not been fully resolved will be passed… — Gabor Maté Family history Copy Share Image
“Like addiction itself, anxiety will always find a target, but exists independently of its targets. Only when we become aware of it… — Gabor Maté Addiction Copy Share Image
“And then there’s physical dependence. As defined in medical terms, physical dependence is manifested when a person stops taking a substance and,… — Gabor Maté Aches and pains Copy Share Image
“Since having a strong core self relies on acceptance of feelings, being out of touch with the emotional side puts a person… — Gabor Maté Identity Copy Share Image
“Society would have much to gain from decriminalization. On the immediate practical level, we would feel safer in our homes and on… — Gabor Maté Addiction Copy Share Image
“The war mentality represents an unfortunate confluence of ignorance, fear, prejudice, and profit. ... The ignorance exists in its own right and… — Gabor Maté Fear Copy Share Image
“It is easy to misinterpret the child's counterwill as a drive for power. We may never be fully in control of our… — Gabor Maté Child Copy Share Image
“No organism in nature is separate from the system in which it lives, functions and dies, and no natural process can be… — Gabor Maté Addiction Copy Share Image
“More than anything, we have lost the cultural customs and traditions that bring extended families together, linking adults and children in caring… — Gabor Maté Change Copy Share Image
“The obvious alternative to blaming the parent is to conclude that there is something amiss or lacking in the child. If we… — Gabor Maté Attention deficit disorder Copy Share Image
“We have noted that gut feelings are an important part of the body’s sensory apparatus, helping us to evaluate the environment and… — Gabor Maté Gut feelings Copy Share Image
“The primary culprit is assumed to be peer rejection: shunning, exclusion, shaming, taunting, mocking, bullying. The conclusion reached by some experts is… — Gabor Maté Child Copy Share Image
“Opiates don't only relieve physical pain, they also relieve emotional pain. It turns out that the same part of the brain that… — Gabor Maté Addiction Copy Share Image
“In response to the intensifying cruelty of children to one another, schools all over this continent are rushing to design programs to… — Gabor Maté Barking up the wrong tree Copy Share Image
“Maturation in the psychological realm involves the differentiation of the elements of consciousness — thoughts, feelings, impulses, values, opinions, preferences, interests, intentions,… — Gabor Maté Maturation Copy Share Image
“The indispensable foundation of a rational stance toward drug addiction would be the decriminalization of all substance dependence and the provision of… — Gabor Maté Addiction Copy Share Image
“Peer-oriented young people thus face two grave psychological risks that more than suffice to make vulnerability unbearable and provoke their brains into… — Gabor Maté Cold water Copy Share Image
“Environmental influences also affect dopamine. From animal studies, we know that social stimulation is necessary for the growth of the nerve endings… — Gabor Maté Emotional stress Copy Share Image
“Being cut off from our own natural self-compassion is one of the greatest impairments we can suffer. Along with our ability to… — Gabor Maté Compassion Copy Share Image
“The first reason why peer-oriented children have to harden emotionally is that they have lost their natural source of power and self-confidence… — Gabor Maté Children Copy Share Image
“It may seem paradoxical to claim that stress, a physiological mechanism vital to life, is a cause of illness. To resolve this… — Gabor Maté Copy Share Image
“No society can understand itself without looking at its shadow side. I believe there is one addiction process, whether it is manifested… — Gabor Maté Addiction Copy Share Image
“The greatest damage done by neglect, trauma or emotional loss is not the immediate pain they inflict but the long-term distortions they… — Gabor Maté Children Copy Share Image
“All the substances that are the main drugs of abuse today originate in natural plant products and have been known to human… — Gabor Maté Cocaine Copy Share Image
“In Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom reports that Morrie Schwartz, his former professor terminally ill with ALS, “was intent on proving that… — Gabor Maté Death Copy Share Image
“Our failure to keep our children attached to us and to the other adults responsible for them has not only taken away… — Gabor Maté Around the world Copy Share Image
“Human beings want not only to survive, but also to live. We long to experience life in all its vividness, with full,… — Gabor Maté Copy Share Image
“The mainstream view of addiction in North America is that it's a choice, it's an ethical lapse, it's a bad decision, it's… — Gabor Maté Addiction Copy Share Image
“The addict’s reliance on the drug to reawaken her dulled feelings is no adolescent caprice. The dullness is itself a consequence of… — Gabor Maté Conscious awareness Copy Share Image
“Parental efforts to gain leverage generally take two forms: bribery or coercion. If a simple direction such as “I'd like you to… — Gabor Maté Children Copy Share Image
