In this book, Dr. Gabor Maté argues that Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD/ADHD) is not a genetic 'illness' but a response to environmental stress. He explains that the brain circuits responsible for emotional self-regulation and attention control fail to develop in infancy due to life experiences. The book provides insights for parents to understand their ADD children and for adults with ADD to gain insights into their emotions and behaviors. It presents a program to promote neurological development in both children and adults, emphasizing the role of social and emotional environments in both the cause and cure of the condition.
Robert J. Lifton's "The Nazi Doctors" explores the psychology of physicians who participated in the atrocities of the Holocaust. Lifton examines how these individuals could reconcile their professional ethics with their participation in mass murder. The book delves into the concept of moral fragmentation, where individuals compartmentalize their actions to avoid confronting the full extent of their culpability. Lifton's work raises profound questions about the nature of evil and the capacity for human beings to commit horrific acts. It remains a significant contribution to the understanding of the Holocaust and the psychology of perpetrators.
In this book, Gabor Maté and his son Daniel Maté challenge the prevailing understanding of 'normal' health, arguing that Western medicine often neglects the impact of trauma, stress, and modern-day living on our bodies and minds. They connect the dots between individual health issues and the broader societal problems, offering a compassionate guide for health and healing. The book is based on over four decades of clinical experience and is supported by extensive scientific research, patient stories, and personal disclosures.
In this book, Dr. Gabor Maté presents a comprehensive and compassionate look at addiction. He argues that addiction is not a moral failure or a genetic disease but rather a result of human development gone awry, often due to childhood trauma. The book includes first-person accounts, case studies, and scientific research to illustrate how addictive behaviors are attempts to self-soothe deep-seated fears and discomforts.
This book by Christopher R. Browning examines the actions of Reserve Police Battalion 101, a unit of the German Order Police, during World War II. The battalion was responsible for mass shootings and round-ups of Jewish people for deportation to Nazi death camps in Poland in 1942. Browning argues that the men of this unit were not fanatical Nazis but ordinary middle-aged, working-class men who committed these atrocities due to group dynamics of conformity, deference to authority, role adaptation, and the altering of moral norms. The book is based on postwar interrogations of former members of the battalion and provides a detailed and chilling glimpse into how ordinary men were transformed into active participants in the Holocaust.
While the trauma that Palestinians continue to face in Gaza is sustained, brutal and seemingly never-ending, the way people experience the effects of trauma has the potential to unite humanity as much as it divides the self. Dr. Gabor Maté, renowned physician and expert in trauma and childhood development, illustrates this point articulately and beautifully on the latest episode of The Chris Hedges Report through attempting to make sense of the psychology, trauma and reason behind the actions of Palestinians, IDF soldiers, WWII survivors, Nazis and even himself.
Hedges begins the show by asking Maté to describe the trauma that Palestinians currently face, as they struggle to survive the constant shelling and murder delivered by their occupiers for over a year now. But even Maté struggles to make sense of it all: “This weekend, 40 members of a single family were killed. So when that child is orphaned, it means that their whole support system is gone. So you know what? I can't tell you. I can only extrapolate from what I've seen and imagine something unfathomable.”
Hedges and Maté do not only reckon with the psychology of the victims of genocide, but also grapple with how “ordinary men” become willing, ruthless, executioners under the rule of totalitarian regimes. Hedges, not sure if these seemingly normal people commit atrocities as a result of trauma or because they are not “morally sentient,” is challenged by Maté, who poses the question, “Well, why would somebody become morally insentient?”
The doctor goes on to describe how humans achieve a healthy moral compass. Rather than be taught morality or indoctrinated into it, people gain moral sentience “because [caretakers] treat you well, because they see you, they understand you, they love you, they embrace you. They promote the development of moral faculties, which is a natural human process given the right conditions. So the lack of moral sentience is actually a sign of trauma.”
Maté’s analysis connects back to the Palestinian resistance itself, and the atrocities they often commit in pursuit of liberation from their occupiers. Hedges, who knew the co-founder of Hamas, Dr. Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, tells Maté that when he pressed al-Rantisi on the act of suicide bombing, Rantisi justified his stance with statistics as a way to “morally evade” the subject. Maté simply, yet wisely, explains that Rantisi, who witnessed the Israelis execute his uncle at the age of 10, did not receive the “right conditions” that would have equipped him to recognize these moral contradictions. “I think what happens is that one of the impacts of trauma is it can close your heart, and when your heart is closed, you don't see the humanity of the other.”
The Chris Hedges Report 
