[New York Times] Bestseller
Amazon's No. 1 nonfiction
Highly recommended by Johann Hari and Tara Westover

"A sharp critique of the contradictions of a materialistic society that ignores humanity."

Gabor Maté, a world-renowned Canadian physician who studies the relationships between addiction, trauma, stress, and disease, has published his book, The Illusion of Normalcy.
Gabo Maté, who sensationalized the modern medical world with the message that the anxiety, addictions, and even physical illnesses we suffer from today are potentially caused by the wounds and traumas we experienced in childhood, is a leading authority on stress, mental health, trauma, and addiction.
In this new work, he points to the toxic culture deeply rooted in modern capitalism and materialism as the source of the mental and physical problems we face today, from children to adults.
In other words, the mental and physical illnesses that plague us originate from our own flawed culture.

"The Illusion of Normalcy" became a New York Times bestseller immediately after its publication and is currently an Amazon nonfiction bestseller.
Moreover, even before its publication, the book received rave reviews from world-renowned scholars and bestselling authors, including Johann Hari, Tara Westover, Bessel van der Kolk, Elisa Epel, and Tara Brach.
Why is the world focusing on this book now?

The word "normal" in this book's title has an insidious connotation that, far from helping us move toward a healthy future, only hinders us from doing so.
For better or worse, humanity has a genius for getting used to things, especially when the change is gradual.
The new buzzword, the verb "normalize," suggests that something previously abnormal has become normal and is no longer noticeable.
In a social sense, 'normal' means 'there is nothing to see here.'
This means that all systems are functioning properly and no further investigation is necessary.
But the reality I saw was very different.
---From the "Preface"

In fact, trauma is so massive that it affects every country and every person in the world, from past to future.
For example, Canadian Aboriginal peoples remain unjustly shadowed by trauma to this day.
They have been robbed and persecuted for generations by colonial policies, and the suffering of children in particular over the past century is indescribable.
They were separated from their families and sent to church-run boarding schools, where physical, sexual, and emotional abuse was rampant, leading to drug addiction, physical and mental illness, and suicide, and the trauma was passed down from generation to generation.
---From "Chapter 1: Aspects of Trauma I Never Want to Return to"

The disease itself is a collection of everything that has happened in the past and is also a signal of what will happen in the future.
Our emotional system, including our relationship to ourselves, is the most powerful factor in determining our future.
For example, it has been found that feeling helpless and hopeless when diagnosed with breast cancer can have a negative impact on survival even 10 years later.
Conversely, those who experienced reduced depressive symptoms were more likely to survive longer.
---From "Chapter 6: It's Not a Thing: Illness as a Process"

The New York Times published an article in 2018 titled, “Why Modern Parenthood Is Hard: It’s Economic.”
The article states, “Children in America today are likely to be the first generation to be poorer than their parents.
“The best thing a parent can do for their children is to support them in their upward mobility, or at least to help them avoid being pushed out of their current social class.” A close acquaintance recently told me about a scene he had seen.
A middle-class mother yelled at her five-year-old son for procrastinating on his homework.
"If you keep doing that, what will you be when you grow up?" What if my son had responded with something like this? "Aren't you worried about my mental state when I grow up?"
---From "Chapter 12 Gardening on the Moon: Damaged Parenting"

One of the great achievements of mass consumer culture is that it has convinced us that what we passionately desire and what we need are the same.
Julia Kristeva, a French psychoanalyst of Bulgarian origin, says:
“Just as products are created to satisfy desires, desires are also created.
We consume our needs without realizing that these ‘needs’ are artificially created.”
---From "Chapter 14: The Guarantee of Suffering: How Culture Shapes Our Character"

To view addiction as a "bad choice" is, frankly, the same as scolding someone by saying, "It's all your damn fault."
This perspective is not only woefully ineffective, it also tells us nothing.
In all my years of practice, I have never once heard anyone say that they 'chose' to be an addict in any way.
We've never heard of patients slowly crumbling in the Downtown Eastside, or addicts disappearing unnoticed on the streets, in hotel rooms, or in Vancouver's drug alleys.
---From "Chapter 15: Not Being Yourself: Correcting the Errors About Addiction"

One of Robin Williams' most beloved works is the Academy Award-winning film Good Will Hunting.
Here he plays a kind psychologist who helps a Boston janitor who is furious after an incident where he attacked a police officer.
This brilliant young man, played by Matt Damon, was a diamond in the rough, but he buried his weaknesses in a hardened shell of anger and resistance.
The most iconic scene is when Williams repeatedly tells Damon the simple but powerful line, “It’s not your fault,” which eventually causes Damon to break down and sob into Williams’ arms.
The words, "It's not your fault," convey not only the unwavering compassion Damon longs for, but also wisdom.
From behavioral disorders to serious mental illnesses, it's not anyone's fault, and as we've seen, it's not the brain or genes' fault.
It's a wound that hasn't healed properly that shows up on the outside, and there's always a reason for that.
---From "Chapter 18 The Mind Can Create Amazing Things: From Madness to Meaning"

Over a period of about 15 years, from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, the percentage of workers at major American companies who said they were "always worried about getting fired" nearly doubled, from 24 percent to 46 percent.
People in occupations where they are constantly pressed for time, constantly changing, and have excessive workloads, and these factors show no signs of abating, often experience increased stress and poor health.
The most common symptom of stress is inflammation.
I have seen this connection between the two many times in the patients I see.
Inflammation has a wide range of health implications, from autoimmune diseases to cardiovascular disease of the heart and brain, cancer, and depression.
---From Chapter 19, “From Society to Cells: Uncertainty, Conflict, and Loss of Control”

Self-restraint behaviors in childhood are further reinforced in a gender-determined social environment.
Many women end up falling into self-silencing, which is “the tendency to suppress one’s thoughts and feelings to maintain the safety of relationships, especially intimate ones.”
This chronic denial of one's experiences can have fatal consequences.
A study that followed over 2,000 women for over a decade found that “women who suppress their emotions when they have a conflict with their spouse are four times more likely to die than those who express their feelings.”
It was the same at home and at work.
Another study found that women who worked under authoritarian bosses and suppressed their anger were more likely to develop heart disease.
In an environment where expressing anger directly can lead to a high risk of losing one's job, this is a natural adaptive response.
---From "Chapter 23: Society's Shock Absorbers: Why It's Harsher for Women"

The first step toward wholeness is acknowledging our own suffering and the suffering of the world.
This doesn't mean we're caught up in a whirlpool of endless pain, depression, and especially sacrifice.
A new, rigid identity built on 'trauma', or the 'healing' associated with it, can also be a trap of the same kind.
True healing is opening ourselves up most honestly and objectively to the truth about our lives, past and present.
We need to acknowledge where we have been hurt and accurately examine the impact of that hurt, not only on ourselves but also on others around us.
---From "Chapter 25: The Spirit of Forward Thinking: The Possibility of Healing"

In his book “The Stress of Life,” renowned physician Janos Selye writes, “What’s inside must come out.
Otherwise, it will explode in the wrong place or become full of complaints,” he said.
Something inside me has something to say, and if I don't express it, it will suffocate in silence.
The books I write, including this one, are a response to an inner need to go out.
---From "Chapter 28: Before You Say You're Not a Body: The First Step Back to Yourself"

A few years ago, while researching material for this book, I had the opportunity to speak with Noam Chomsky, the father of modern linguistics and a philosopher, social activist, and cultural critic.
I asked this intellectual giant, who calls himself a “tactical pessimist and strategic optimist,” whether he still feels positive about the future.
He answered with a smile.
“If you can't be an optimist, you might as well commit suicide.
So the answer is obviously yes.
Because I am an optimist.
I just try my best to correct it.
I don't know if that's possible or not.
This is the slogan that made Antonio Gramsci famous: "Be pessimistic with your reason, but optimistic with your will."
“There is no other choice.”

---From "Chapter 33: Destruction of Myths: Dreaming of a Healthier Society"