Gabor Maté on trauma, mental health & addiction

This intense interview is a recording of an episode of Russel Brand's podcast 'Under The Skin' with Dr Gabor Maté highlighting the absolute indisputable links between trauma and both mental and physical health problems. 

With the recent release of his film 'The Wisdom of Trauma', I thought it was a good time to share one of my favourite interviews with two of my favourite thought leaders. The topics covered are heavily focussed on addiction, but the theories and subjects discussed are all rooted in the effects of trauma, particularly in childhood, touching on chronic illness, pain, anxiety, depression, ADHD and the patterns that connect them all.

Just like TMS and chronic pain are seen as a distraction from our emotional problems, his work highlights a similar scenario where the suffering of our society is being numbed or controlled by substance abuse/eating disorders/consumerism and many other forms of addiction. Mental illness and addiction touch everyone's lives in one way or another, so hopefully, you will find this conversation tremendously interesting. 

I thought this was so powerful and took so many crazy turns that it should be included here, to show just how far the effects of trauma can go and solidify the assumptions we may have about our adult realities or perhaps what we've experienced throughout our lives.