I recently write a series of articles reviewing Dr. Gabor Maté’s new book, The Myth of Normal. Instead of publishing them as separate articles, I figured it would make more sense to put them all together in one.
The reviews are separated into distinct themes present throughout the book.
Part one:
The first part focuses on the central premise of the book, which is essentially that all of our psychological and physical ailments are caused by a “toxic culture”. I’m oversimplifying, of course—there are some important strengths to understanding disease and disorder as complex, arising from a combination of genetics and environment.
However, as I note in my reviews, Dr. Maté takes this perspective a few steps too far, to the point of actually saying that ADHD is caused by trauma, which is untrue. There are some overlapping symptoms between trauma and ADHD, so they can look similar, and trauma will exacerbate existing ADHD symptoms, but these are very different from trauma actually being the root cause of a neurodevelopmental disorder.
Part two:
The second review focuses on addictions, which is one of Dr. Maté’s areas of expertise (while ADHD is most decidedly not). Dr. Maté is world-renowned for his work on trauma and addictions, so if you’re looking for expert perspective on these subject areas, you’re in the right place.
In his book, Dr. Maté urges the reader to consider the larger picture: How our physical and mental health are influenced by genetics and biology, yes, but also our environment, circumstances, and life events.
Part three:
The third article focuses on Oppositional Defiant Disorder (O.D.D.) and the final section of the book, entitled “undoing self-limiting beliefs”. Although Dr. Maté did not write extensively about O.D.D. in this book, I do agree with the stance he takes and appreciate the points he makes on this so-called “disorder”.
In contrast, I did not enjoy the final section of the book. It definitely began to feel like new-age self-help pop psychology, with undertones of self-promotion. I understand we all need to engage in self-promotion (I do it all the time) if we want to sell our products (including our writing).
However, Dr. Maté, in his book, is bashing capitalism (which does suck) while fully reaping its benefits. He quotes Dr. Rob Lustig as saying “Their aim is to market happiness in a bottle” while simultaneously aiming to sell us happiness in book form.
The blatant hypocrisy would be funny, if it weren’t for the obscene amounts of money Dr. Maté makes from his speaking engagements.
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