“Not all addictions are rooted in abuse or trauma, but I do believe they can all be traced to painful experience. A… — Gabor Mate Addiction Copy Share Image
“Selye discovered that the biology of stress predominantly affected three types of tissues or organs in the body: in the hormonal system,… — Gabor Maté Adrenal glands Copy Share Image
“Peer-oriented children live in a universe of severely limited and superficial attachments. The quest for sameness being the least vulnerable way of… — Gabor Maté Children Copy Share Image
“The very fact that something is important to us can make our children feel less like doing it. The more we pressure… — Gabor Maté Children Copy Share Image
A hurt is at the center of all addictive behaviors. . . . The wound may not be as deep and the… — Gabor Mate Ache Copy Share Image
“The core belief in having to be strong enough, characteristic of many people who develop chronic illness, is a defence. The child… — Gabor Maté Ask for help Copy Share Image
“One cannot get much more vulnerable than to expose oneself psychologically. To share oneself with another and then be misunderstood or rejected… — Gabor Maté Loved ones Copy Share Image
“Reactions can be gratifyingly mature at one time but distressingly immature at another. If some deeply unconscious anxiety is triggered, a person… — Gabor Maté Anger Copy Share Image
“Walking through the halls of my son's high school during lunch hour recently, I was struck by how similar it felt to… — Gabor Maté Children Copy Share Image
“There is no evidence from anywhere in the world that harm reduction measures encourage drug use. Denying addicts humane assistance multiplies their… — Gabor Maté Addiction Copy Share Image
“Genes are merely codes. They act as a set of rules and as a biological template for the synthesis of the proteins… — Gabor Maté Biology Copy Share Image
“The areas of the cortex responsible for attention and self-regulation develop in response to the emotional interaction with the person whom we… — Gabor Maté American express Copy Share Image
“While it is beneficial for a child to feel bad when anticipating a loss of connection with those who are devoted to… — Gabor Maté Child Copy Share Image
“Human beings have an intuitive understanding of the point at which vulnerability is too much to bear. Vulnerability due to fear of… — Gabor Maté Child Copy Share Image
“As we mature, our brain develops the ability to mix things together, to hold different perceptions, senses, thoughts, feelings, and impulses all… — Gabor Maté Growth Copy Share Image
“In attunement, it is the infant who leads and the mother who follows. “Where their roles differ is in the timing of… — Gabor Maté Children Copy Share Image
“The successes (financial) represent addictive drives, whose negative impact in the world is tremendous. Who creates more suffering, somebody who sells an… — Gabor Maté Addict Copy Share Image
“Freedom in society is gauged by our success in getting what we want and conditioned by status and power, by race, class… — Gabor Maté Choice Copy Share Image
“Attacking family members is all too typical of peer-oriented children, leaving parents and siblings wounded. In most cases, the attacks will not… — Gabor Maté Aggression Copy Share Image
“Another powerful dynamic perpetuates addiction despite the abundance of disastrous consequences: the addict sees no other possible existence for himself. His outlook… — Gabor Maté Addict Copy Share Image
“I was diagnosed with ADHD in my mid fifties and I was given Ritalin and Dexedrine. These are stimulant medications. They elevate… — Gabor Maté Addiction Copy Share Image
“First, we need to take stock of ourselves and give up any hint of moral superiority and judgment toward the addict. Judging… — Gabor Maté Addiction Copy Share Image
“Basically, attention follows attachment. The stronger the attachment, the easier it is to secure the child's attention. When attachment is weak, the… — Gabor Maté Attention deficit disorder Copy Share Image
“By the way, let me shatter a myth about addiction. This whole idea that drugs are addictive... they're not in themselves addictive.… — Gabor Maté Addiction Copy Share Image
“Recognizing that parental responsibility is insufficient for successful child-rearing, but still not conscious of the role of attachment, many experts assume the… — Gabor Maté Child Copy Share Image
“Many people fear that decriminalization and the controlled dispensing of drugs will lead to widespread substance use among people who are now… — Gabor Maté Addiction Copy Share Image
“What are some of the markers of low self-esteem, besides consciously harsh self-judgment? An inflated, grandiose view of oneself — frequently seen… — Gabor Maté Blaming others Copy Share Image
“In truth, the U.S.-sponsored international “War on Drugs” is a war on poor people, most of them subsistence farmers caught in a… — Gabor Maté American life Copy Share Image
“There are a small number of debilitating conditions with a strong genetic basis, such as muscular dystrophy or Huntington’s disease. These are… — Gabor Maté Depression Copy Share Image
“In any disease, say smoking-induced lung or heart disease, organs and tissues are damaged and function in pathological ways. When the brain… — Gabor Maté Addiction Copy Share Image
“Our difficulty or inability to perceive the experience of others…is all the more pronounced the more distant these experiences are from ours… — Gabor Maté Faith in humanity Copy Share Image
“The salient stressors in the lives of most human beings today — at least in the industrialized world — are emotional. Just… — Gabor Maté Economic development Copy Share Image
“The hardcore drug addicts that I treat, are, without exception, people who have had extraordinarily difficult lives. The commonality is childhood abuse.… — Gabor Maté Abuse Copy Share Image
“We do not have to look for diseases to explain why some people are not able to experience the full flowering of… — Gabor Maté Growth Copy Share Image
“What a lot of people use the internet for is really about meeting their attachment needs. So on Facebook, what do people… — Gabor Maté Addiction Copy Share Image
“The psychoanalyst Erik H. Erikson devoted a chapter in his Pulitzer Prize—winning book, Childhood and Society, to his reflections on the American… — Gabor Maté American identity Copy Share Image
“Like stress, emotion is a concept we often invoke without a precise sense of its meaning. And, like stress, emotions have several… — Gabor Maté Abusive relationship Copy Share Image
“Developing the courage to think negatively allows us to look at ourselves as we really are. There is a remarkable consistency in… — Gabor Maté Autoimmune disease Copy Share Image
“The attachment voids experienced by immigrant children are profound. The hardworking parents are focused on supporting their families economically and, unfamiliar with… — Gabor Maté American society Copy Share Image
“The human brain is the most complex entity in the universe. It has between fifty and one hundred billion nerve cells, or… — Gabor Maté Adult life Copy Share Image
