The Myth of Normal: Illness, health & healing in a toxic culture

We tend to believe that normality equals health. Yet what is the norm in the Western world?

Mental illness and chronic disease are on an unstoppable rise. How did we get here?
And what lies ahead for us?

'It all starts with waking up... to what our bodies are expressing and our minds are suppressing.'

In this life-affirming book, Gabor Maté connects the dots between our personal suffering and the relentless pressures of modern life – showing that ill health is a natural reflection of our disconnection from our true selves. Drawing on four decades of clinical experience, and stories of people transforming their bodies and minds, Dr Maté offers a hopeful pathway to reconnection and healing.

Review

Gabor Mate takes us on an epic journey of discovery about how our emotional well-being, and our social connectivity (in short: how we live), is intimately intertwined with health, disease and addictions ... This riveting and beautifully written tale has profound implications for all of our lives, including the practice of medicine and mental health ― Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score

Wise, sophisticated, rigorous and creative: an intellectual and compassionate investigation of who we are and who we may become ― Tara Westover, author of Educated

A book literally everyone will be enriched by - a wise, profound and healing work that is the culmination of Dr Maté's many years of deep and painfully accumulated wisdom ― Johann Hari, author of Stolen Focus

An astonishing achievement, epic in scope and yet profoundly down-to-earth and practical. I will read this book again and again ― V (formerly Eve Ensler), author of The Vagina Monologues

Brilliant, compelling and groundbreaking. Gabor Maté offers us a way to bring clear seeing and a greatness of heart to the crisis of our times ― Tara Brach, author of Radical Compassion

A book in which readers can seek refuge and solace during moments of profound personal and social crisis ― Esther Perel, psychotherapist and author of Mating in Captivity

Gabor Maté's connections - between the intensely personal and the global, the spiritual and the medical, the psychological and the political - are bold, wise and deeply moral. He is a healer to be cherished ― Naomi Klein, author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine

A compelling book that will challenge your views and help lift the veil of illusion to what is truly happening in your mind and in your body ― Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Happiness

Gripping ... a powerful call for change in how we live with, love, understand, treat, and think about each other ― Rebecca Solnit, author of Men Explaining Everything To Me

About the Author

Gabor Maté (Author)
A celebrated speaker, and bestselling author, Dr Gabor Maté is highly sought after for his expertise on a range of topics including addiction, stress and childhood development. Rather than offering quick-fix solutions to these complex issues, Dr Maté weaves together scientific research, case histories, and his own insights and experience to present a broad perspective that enlightens and empowers people to promote their own healing and that of those around them.

Dr Maté has written several bestselling books including When the Body Says No, Scattered Minds and co-authored Hold on to Your Kids. His most recent book The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture is a New York Times bestseller. Dr Maté's works have been published internationally in over twenty languages.

Supporters of Dr Maté include Dr Rangan Chatterjee, Bessel van der Kolk, Johann Hari and Esther Perel. He was recently featured in the highly publicised livestream conversation with Prince Harry where they discussed loss, trauma and the importance of healing.

Daniel Maté (Author)
Daniel Maté is an acclaimed composer-lyricist who has received the Kleban Prize for Lyrics, the ASCAP Foundation Cole Porter Award and a Jonathan Larson Grant. His musicals include The Longing and the Short of It, Hansel & Gretl & Heidi & Gu¨nter, Middle School Mysteries and a forthcoming adaptation of the Russell Banks novel The Sweet Hereafter. He also runs a popular 'mental chiropractic' service called Take a Walk with Daniel.