Healing Trauma in a Toxic Culture with Dr. Gabor Maté | Being Well Podcast

Renowned physician Gabor Maté joins Rick and I on this episode of Being Well to explore the many problems for our body and mind that arise out of our modern culture, and what we can do to meet our needs, heal ourselves, and become more whole. We discuss our increasing separation from one another, issues with aspects of the medical model, the true nature of addiction, the developmental needs of children, the myth of “normal,” and recovering from traumatic experiences.

About Our Guest: Gabor Maté is one of the world’s leading experts on trauma, addiction, and childhood development. His work has had an enormous impact on how we understand the interactions between our internal world and the world around us, and he is the bestselling author of "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts," "Scattered Minds," and his newest book "The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture."

Key Topics:
0:00 Introduction
1:55 What Gabor means by a toxic culture
4:50 Interpersonal biology - our physiology is modulated by our relationships
7:50 What components are needed for a healthy culture?
13:20 Examples of toxic culture’s impact on people’s behavior
17:05 Addiction
23:40 How and when to distinguish degrees of trauma
30:30 Where and when to express healthy anger
36:30 How turning against the self manifests as illness
38:10 What supports people in returning to their authentic nature?
44:00 Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and a sacred context
46:10 Grief, integration, and letting go
49:55 Gabor’s relationship with his children
54:15 Five kinds of compassion, disillusionment, and truth
57:30 Is it kind? Is it true? Is it necessary?
1:00:00 Recap

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[missscribbles]

He’s the educator I needed to overcome crippling meth addiction; forever grateful to have discovered him on my healing journey

[Adrian-slzj]

I listen to this guy Gabor often. He’s a very intelligent man, with great experiential insight into spirituality and healing. We need him in this world in these times 🙏🏻

[angelitaalvarez]

I've been listening to everything I can find on Gabor Mate. The trauma, neglect, and loss I've lived with for 53 years is finally being healed. I cannot Thank Him enough.

[SunraeSkatimunggr]

In a weird way, the neglect that happened to me as a child more than 60 years ago was my saving grace from my family. It caused me to a very good observer of people and how weird "culture" is. My poor elder sister was so fully immersed in it that she can't even see how screwed up it was/is. But this being said, it is VERY difficult to see our own issues, so I'm sure this plenty crazy to go around :) I do encourage others try and understand that their parents were messed up, as were their parents, and so on...so in many ways it is not your parent's fault for being so terrible at it. I tried very hard not to pass on the "culture" to my only son, and he is a much better parent than I am, so hopefully things will change for the better through my line.

[owlwellnesswell-being]

Thanks for this education and learning to empower us all.

[leilanikraushaar]

I am First Nations, and have had to work very hard to heal and know myself. It took 60 years for me to realize I am perfect and not flawed. I am Yellow Hands Spirit Woman. Trauma sucks.

[macoeur]

"Nature wants you to be yourself, more than it wants you to survive"....OMG...Now THAT is something I can get behind! All of the evidence is there if we're just willing to look at it. 🥰 I heart Gabor!

[sandracaezza]

Much thanks gentleman . This was wonderful to hear. Insight is so transformative. Speaking of grief, I was glad to hear your input.

[Dink_Jenkins]

Forrest you are THAT DUDE. the way you tie together and guide conversations to extract so much goodness is extremely skilled and authentic. huge props

[stellabandante]

Bravo to all three of you. The content is profound and the delivery is graceful.

[Diana-jxju]

So relieving to hear such honest, compassionate conversation.

[mervijaakola]

Such a great talk! thank you so much! The podcaster's ending words were really informative as well 🙏

[ahousat]

Thank you Gabor for being a voice and validating the systemic racism of the generational trauma of Indigenous people's with genocide.

[lisas.]

Congratulations on the interview. Dr Mate is brilliant, compassionate and forthright. The world needs more physicians like him.

[ryanbachman]

I'm having a really hard time fighting the alienation that comes from finding our dominant culture reprehensible. I was making considerable progress healing from cptsd from adverse childhood experiences but now I'm completely stuck as I feel like I'm being retraumatized by my understanding of the climate catastrophe. I feel like I'm triggering and reliving the feelings of abandonment and helplessness. As an engineer who really went down the rabbit hole of understanding our current predicament I feel like most of the advice therapists have offered to ameliorate my eco anxiety are just platitudes. I'm having a hard time finding a therapist in my area who understands eco anxiety and also feel responsible for any trauma I might induce in someone else by explaining the severity of what I see and feel with respect to the health of our biosphere. I'm trying to be patient and hope more therapists will learn about climate science in my area so I can find someone to talk to. Gabor Mate gives me hope that there are people that have the courage to look into the darkest corners to help others that are suffering, I hope his message continues to spread. We need it in the worst way.

[pieyedapple]

"...addiction was your attempt to solve a problem..." Best explanation for what so many of my loved-ones are going through...thank you.

[GodHelpMe]

Attachment styles are about more than romance.
They’re wired into the core of our nervous systems,
and they’re a foundational element of who we are.
They show up every time we get stressed – in any relationship.

Unresolved wounding is what causes us to be so insecure.

If you want to feel security, connection, and confidence in every aspect of your life,
then you MUST learn how to solve the conflict/repair cycle
because that’s the foundation of it all.

The journey doesn’t end by learning your attachment style.

It’s just the beginning.

[harparatata]

I love Dr. Gabor's emotional intelligence... he goes importantly deep.. deep into the root of a human behavior and a human being

[rosettarafanelli]

Thank you Forest and Rick . I have also discovered Dr Gabor recently and it has completely married all the personal searching journey I have been on this past year!! You two have been so helpful in my journey and it’s so reassuring to know that my recognition of Dr Gabor is because of your discussions! Thank you thank you

[amandamassyn]

I feel this interview may go down in history and be referred to by many who want to understand how humans develop. Forrest, thanks for making this happen. Lovely Rick, your questions were great and your closing thanks to Gabor touched ny heart. Gabor you are a light to us all struggling to make sense of our development. You are helping, just by sharing your experience and understanding in this way. Thank you for standing up for those underprivileged people as a ethnic group and individuals. What a wonderful discussion. 🌈🤗😊😘🌞🌈🐾🐕🙏