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

The celebrated physician and author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts deconstructs definitions of normal both in relation to illness and trauma and to concepts of Western cultural living in this highly perceptive, game-changing volume.

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

Mental illness is on an unstoppable rise. Some 45% of Europeans suffer high blood pressure, and nearly 70% of Americans take at least one prescription drug. Illness and trauma are defining how we live.

In his new masterpiece, renowned physician, addiction expert and author Gabor Mate dissects the underlying causes of this malaise - physical and emotional, and connects the dots between our personal suffering and the pressures of modern-day living. Over four decades of clinical experience, Dr Mate has found that the common definition of 'normal' is false: virtually all disease is actually a natural reflection of life in an abnormal culture, as we grow further and further apart from our true selves. But he also shows us the pathway to reconnection and healing.

Filled with stories of people in the grip of illness or in the triumphant wake of recovery, this life-affirming book shows how true health is possible - if we are willing to embrace authenticity above social expectations. The Myth of Normal is Gabor Mate's most ambitious, compassionate and urgent book yet.

MEDIA REVIEWS

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