Gabor Maté - In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts - Close Encounters with Addiction

Quotations on pages 31 and 223 are from “Junkie” by Stephen Reid, from Addicted: Notes from the Belly of the Beast, edited by Lorna Crozier and Patrick Lane. Published 2001, 2006 by Greystone Books, a division of Douglas & McIntyre Ltd. Reprinted by permission of the publisher

Quotations on pages 35 and 246 are from The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi, translated from the Italian by Raymond Rosenthal. English translation © 1988 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group.

Quotations on pages 140, 260 and 261 are from The Selfish Brain: Learning from Addiction by Robert L. Dupont, M.D. Copyright © 2000 by Hazelden Foundation. Reprinted by permission of Hazelden Foundation, Centre City, MN.

Quotations on pages 168, 204, 286, 343 and 357 are from The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force by Jeffrey Schwartz and Sharon Begley. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

Quotations on pages 183, 186 and 435n are from Human Behavior and the Developing Brain. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.

The quotation on page 185 is from The Developing Mind: Toward a Neurobiology of Interpersonal Experience. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.

The quotation on page 213 is © Maurice Walsh, 1987, 1995. Reprinted from The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Digha Nikaya, with permission of Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144 U.S.A., www.wisdompubs.org.

The quotation on page 251 is from Requiem for a Dream.

Quotations on pages 255, 259, 287 and 389 are from The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, by Eckart Tolle, published by Namaste Publishing. Reprinted with permission.

The quotation on page 274 is from Peaceful Measures: Canada’s Way Out of the “War on Drugs. ” Reprinted with permission.

The quotation on page 320 is from Harm Reduction: Pragmatic Strategies for Managing High Risk Behaviors. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.

The quotation on page 337 is from Solitude.

Quotations on pages 341, 342 and 375–76 are from Enriching Heredity: The Impact of the Environment on the Brain by Marian Cleeves Diamond. Copyright © 1988 by The Free Press. Reprinted by permission of The Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

The quotation on pages 348–49 is from Thoughts Without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective.

Quotations on pages 356, 357, 358 and 361 are from Brain Lock: Free Yourself from Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior by Jeffrey Schwartz. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

The quotation on pages 371–72 is from One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps. Copyright © 2004 by Kevin Griffin. Permission granted by Rodale, Inc., Emmaus, PA 18098.

The quotation on pages 385–86 is from Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life by Byron Katie. Copyright © 2002 Three Rivers Press. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

The quotation on page 388 is from Black Sun: Depression and Melancholia by Julia Kristeva, trans. L.S. Roudiez. Copyright © 1989 Columbia University Press. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.

The quotation on page 396 is from Confessions.

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GABOR MATÉ, M.D., is the author of the bestselling books Scattered Minds: A New Look at the Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder and When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress —published in ten languages on five continents—and co-author, with Gordon Neufeld, of Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More than Peers . Former medical columnist for the Globe and Mail , where his byline continues to be seen on issues of health and parenting, Dr. Maté has had a family practice, worked as a palliative care physician and, most recently, with the addicted men and women in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.

praise for

IN THE REALM OF HUNGRY GHOSTS

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER

“ In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts is a survey of scientific evidence on addiction…. Drug-addled, yes—but Maté’s patients are often perceptive, sensitive and struggling to keep whatever dignity society has left them…. That the well-off and the destitute are considered together in this book reminds us that addiction transcends class…. Maté is obviously an effective communicator on medical issues.”

The Gazette

“A nuanced and complex meditation on what opium-eater Thomas de Quincy called the ‘abiding darkness’…. A powerful and compassionate work.”

NOW

“Excellent…. One of the book’s strengths is Maté’s detailed and compassionate characterization of the afflicted addicts he treats, but this is not just a memoir. Rather, using his own experience as well as the most advanced recent research, he attempts to delineate the closely interrelated psychological, social, and neurological dimensions of addiction…. A calm, unjudging, compassionate attentiveness to what is happening within.”

The Walrus

“Powerful…. Maté wades through the vast learning behind the root causes of addiction, applying a clinical and psychological view to the physical manifestation and unearthing some surprising (to the layman anyway) answers for why people do such frightening and destructive things to themselves…. In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts is enormously compelling and Maté, as noted, is admirably, sometimes inexplicably, empathetic to all who cross his path.”

Toronto Star

“Maté presents a well-reasoned critique of the so-called war on drugs and offers suggestions for how we might respond more effectively to chronic addiction.”

The Vancouver Sun

“Dr. Maté’s latest book [is] a moving, debate-provoking and multilayered look at how addiction arises, the people afflicted with it and why he supports decriminalization of all drugs, including crystal meth…. [ In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts ] reads not only as a lively textbook analysis of the physiological and psychological causes of drug addiction, but also as an investigation into his heart and mind.”

The Globe and Mail

“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 and this exciting book arrives at just the right time.”

Naomi Klein, author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine

“It seems odd to use the word ‘beautiful’ to describe a book that focuses frequently, in graphic, unrelenting detail, on the lives of some of the most hopeless outcasts of our society: the hard-core street addicts with whom Dr. Gabor Maté works. Yet that’s the word that came repeatedly to mind as I read In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. It’s not only the grace of Maté’s writing, though that’s certainly a great part of it. It’s the sense of compassion that infuses the entire book…. Maté offers no easy fixes (pun intended), but does offer hope and understanding.”

The Record

“With superb descriptive talents, Gabor Maté takes us into the lives of the emotionally destitute and drug addicted human beings who are his patients. In this highly readable and penetrating book, he gives us the disturbing truths about the nature of addiction and its roots in people’s early years—truths that are usually concealed by time and protected by shame, secrecy and social taboo.”