The Biology, Morality and Politics of Addiction – Dr Gabor Maté – The Freedomain Radio Interview
Audio: www.fdrurl.com Dr Gabor Maté reveals the biological basis of addiction, and the insanity of the statist war on drugs. www.drgabormate.com Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1944, Gabor Maté emigrated to Canada with his family in 1957. After graduating with a BA from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and a few years as a high school English and literature teacher, he returned to school to pursue his childhood dream of being a doctor. Dr. Maté ran a private family practice in East Vancouver for over twenty years. He was also the Medical Co-ordinator of the Palliative Care Unit at Vancouver Hospital for seven years. Currently he is the staff physician at the Portland Hotel, a residence and resource centre for the people of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Many of his patients suffer from mental illness, drug addiction and HIV, or all three. Dr. Maté has had regular medical columns in The Vancouver Sun and the national Globe and Mail. Widely recognized for his unique perspective on Attention Deficit Disorder, and his firmly held belief in the connection between mind and body health, he is a sought-after speaker and seminar leader on these topics. He is the author of four books — When the Body Says No The Cost of Hidden Stress, and Scattered Minds: A New Look at the Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder. The third book, Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers, he co-authored with developmental psychologist Gordon Neufeld …
I don`t know if compulsive human behavior should be included with drug addiction. This opens a big can of worms when people claim they are “pedophile addicts” or “child porn addicts”, so everything from hoarding to serial killing can be called “addictions”. Let`s just stick to the heroin, crack, meth problem.
@SoomPrimal Nice point man. Good thing to remember.
What does Mr. Molyneux think about the book Parents should matter more than peers? How about super peers – - like someone looked up to?
Hey Stef,
Great interview….. one of the best ‘expert’ interviews in my opinion. Thanks again for all of your work… I average an hour a day listening to your various interviews, pod casts and so on and it is Life Changing stuff. I need all the help I can get due to my background.
Keep up the good work …
Derek
so awesome
did you not hear what the good doctor said?
This is fantastic, thank you.
@SoomPrimal i agree about using a compressor or limiter… i think a bit of EQ’ing would help too as dr gabor mate’s voice seems a bit muffled too.
I think what he said is largely true. Any behavior can be made into an addiction. I think it’s important, however, to point out that chemically many drugs are inherently more addictive than others. Quitting smoking marijuana is nothing compared to kicking a smack addiction, which has real physical withdrawal symptoms and is a horror in itself (to use the extremes.)
I think quite a few people will reject his definition of addiction, simply because it will expose their own non-drug related addictions. Overeating being one of the most common ones I’ve seen.
Stefan: Are you using an audio compression filter on your phone guests? If you use a compressor, the dynamic range (highs and lows of volumes) will be compressed and it will be easier to hear people over the phone because the volume will be more consistent- even if the guest lowers his or her voice (as this guest did a lot.) I’d suggest looking into it. (Just to elaborate on the above posters point)
This man has hit the nail on the head in terms of how he has analysed the building of the pain body. Understanding his finding extrapulate to society in general hence the collective unconscious.
I’m assuming that was an expensive long-distance call.
Hey Stef,
At about 20:11 you speak to how people’s political opinions have been shown to be related to their “amygdaline (amygdaloid?) response to fear stimuli”. I’d love to read up on this more. Do you have any suggested books or web links on the subject?
My apologies, I do run the audio through a volume leveler, but there’s not much I can do with phone audio. I also try to get people to use Skype, but no luck this time…
Look up in the info section and you’ll answer your own question.
Good video but the audio was terrible, to hear him I had to crank the volume and it was too basy and then when you spoke it was too loud, spent the entire time with hand on the volume.. just a level check would have helped.
please have these people use the internet to talk to you, like over ventrillo or something, because they are RIDICULOUSLY hard to understand over the telephone.
“This is how I believe we make a better future.”
Absolutely Stef, Bullseye.
what kind of accent does he have?
Politics is a theater drama like any other. It can never be anything more. Fade the nightmare aspects
This man is a very good interviewee, which is strangely uncommon. Good going, Stef
thanks for this
first view, Your interviews are very fair and good.