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  • Published: 13 September 2022
  • ISBN: 9781473571075
  • Imprint: Ebury Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 576

The Myth of Normal

Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture




A book that changes everything – from the legendary Dr Gabor Maté

The empowering book exploring the link between trauma, illness, and modern life – and how to heal your health. From the acclaimed physician and bestselling author of When The Body Says No.

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD

‘Life-changing’ Mel Robbins, bestselling author of The Let Them Theory

‘Riveting and beautifully written’ Bessel van der Kolk, bestselling author of The Body Keeps Score

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We tend to believe that normality equals health. But in today’s modern world, rising rates of anxiety, depression, addiction and chronic illness suggest otherwise. So, what is normal – and is it making us unwell?

In this life-affirming book, Dr Gabor Maté connects the dots between trauma, mental health, and physical illness, showing how our health is shaped by the pressures and expectations of modern life.

Drawing on decades of clinical experience, and real-life stories of people transforming their bodies and minds, Dr Gabor Maté offers a compassionate and hopeful path to healing, self-awareness and emotional wellbeing.

In The Myth of Normal, you’ll discover:

  • Why the illnesses of body and mind can natural responses to a toxic culture
  • How stress and emotional suppression affect the body
  • The science behind the mind-body connection in healing and wellbeing
  • A hopeful path towards resilience, balance and authenticity

Compassionate and urgent, this empowering bestseller shows how true health is possible when we are willing to embrace our authentic selves.

Praise for The Myth of Normal and Dr Gabor Maté:

‘Genuinely changed my life’ Steven Bartlett, bestselling author of Diary of A CEO

‘Intellectual and compassionate…essential reading’ Tara Westover, bestselling author of Educated

‘A wise, profound and healing work’ Johann Hari, bestselling author of Stolen Focus

‘Brilliant, compelling and groundbreaking book’ Tara Brach, bestselling author of Radical Acceptance and Radical Compassion

‘An essential compass during disorienting times.’ Esther Perel, psychotherapist, bestselling author and host of Where Should We Begin

  • Published: 13 September 2022
  • ISBN: 9781473571075
  • Imprint: Ebury Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 576

About the authors

Gabor Mate

Gabor Maté is a retired physician who, after 20 years of family practice and palliative-care experience, worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. The bestselling author of four books published in twenty-five languages, Gabor is an internationally renowned speaker highly sought after for his expertise on addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the relationship of stress and illness. For his ground-breaking medical work and writing, he has been awarded the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction, and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. He is an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Criminology, Simon Fraser University. To learn more, join his e-news list at www.drgabormate.com.

Daniel Maté

Daniel Maté is an acclaimed musical theatre songwriter and playwright whose work has been performed on multiple continents. Since 2024 Daniel has co-hosted the popular political satire podcast 'Bad Hasbara: The World's Most Moral Podcast.'

Praise for The Myth of Normal

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 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

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 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

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

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 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

Dr Maté has completely transformed how the world sees, talks about and understands trauma. And he has absolutely had that impact on me and it's been life-changing.

Mel Robbins, #1 global bestselling author of The Let Them Theory

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