“Trauma isn’t what happens to you, it’s what happens inside you.”

– Gabor Maté

[HOUSEKEEPING NOTE: Some people in the comments are asking “Which ayahuasca/ibogaine retreat center would you recommend?” and similar questions. To avoid DIY medicine, potential injuries, and other liability headaches, we have decided not to publish these comments. There’s plenty of other material to work with.]

Dr. Gabor Maté (@DrGaborMate) is a physician who specializes in neurology, psychiatry, and psychology. He’s well known for studying and treating addiction.

Dr. Maté has written several books, including the award-winning In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction. His work has been published internationally in 20 languages, and he’s received the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize; an Honorary Degree (Law) from the University of Northern British Columbia; an Outstanding Alumnus Award from Simon Fraser University; and the 2012 Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award from Mothers Against Teen Violence. He is an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Criminology, Simon Fraser University.

I’ve wanted to invite Dr. Maté to this podcast for a while because he is not only an expert in the pathologies of addiction, but he’s experimented with — and used successfully — tools that are perhaps outside the realm of traditional psychiatry. He is also a co-founder, along with Vicky Dulai, of Compassion for Addiction, a group that advocates for a new way to understand and treat addiction.

Enjoy!

You can find the transcript of this episode here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Dr. Gabor Maté - New Paradigms, Ayahuasca, and Redefining Addiction https://rss.art19.com/episodes/a0c1eace-43ca-4a95-8076-0f33ab872641.mp3 Download

Listen to it on iTunes.

Stream by clicking here.

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9B5mYfBPlY]

Want to hear more about alternative medicine? Check out my conversations with James Fadiman, Ph.D. In the below episode, we discuss LSD and micro-dosing for creative problem solving, anxiety reduction, and more (stream below or right-click here to download):

Ep 66: The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide - Risks, Micro-Dosing, Ibogaine, and More https://rss.art19.com/episodes/ae1b609a-106c-486e-a62b-2f4b410b33da.mp3 Download

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QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Scroll below for links and show notes…

Enjoy!

Selected Links from the Episode

Connect with Gabor Maté:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

Show Notes

Gabor shares his family history and how it motivated him to understand people as a medical doctor. [09:58]

On influential books and gaining, rather than losing, something in translation. [14:06]

The link between sensitivity, pain, and creativity. [21:33]

How does Gabor start helping someone who’s outwardly successful but inwardly tortured? [24:31]

When did Gabor’s interest in medicine begin? [29:58]

How did Gabor end up working in palliative care? [33:49]

How did Gabor start focusing on his work with addiction? [36:29]

What nontraditional methods did Gabor use that raised eyebrows and got him fired, which opened opportunities he couldn’t have foreseen? [37:10]

How does Gabor define addiction, and how is it at odds with other definitions? [39:16]

What prompted my high school drug addiction? [41:32]

How a coping mechanism becomes the root of addiction. [47:39]

Looking at the causes of addiction instead of the consequences. [52:10]

To what extent do genetics play a role in addiction? [1:01:56]

What do the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) studies tell us about the nature of addiction? [1:04:50]

How I’ve used loving kindness meditation to shed certain behaviors. [1:07:17]

Once Gabor identifies why an addiction exists, what’s the next step? [1:11:37]

Recommendations for someone looking to reconnect with themselves. [1:14:34]

After a lifetime of believing himself unaffected by the benefits of yoga, what kind of yoga has Gabor recently started practicing with great success? [1:18:42]

How did Gabor begin researching the therapeutic value of psychedelics? What was revealed by his first experience with ayahuasca? [1:20:56]

The right way and the wrong way to experience ayahuasca. [1:26:46]

Where can people learn more about current scientific studies into the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics? [1:30:40]

An important caveat about powerful tools and exploitative gurus. [1:35:05]

How I’ve been trying to reconnect with myself and my own gut feelings. [1:38:29]

Why we shut down our gut feelings. [1:41:14]

Elvis Presley’s lack of love song. [1:45:55]

Some powerful modalities aren’t for everyone. [1:47:26]

How did humans discover ayahuasca? How might it differ from place to place? [1:49:17]

Gabor’s pre- and post-ayahuasca practices. [1:53:14]

The importance of integrating by sharing our powerful experiences with others. [1:59:41]

The clear intention you set is not the same as an expectation. “The task which hinders your task is your task.” [2:01:20]

How can we view such a task as a gift? [2:05:07]

An exercise for understanding how we respond not to what happens but to our perception of what happens. [2:07:18]

Why blaming others for our problems turns us into victims, while identifying ourselves as the source of those problems is empowering. [2:14:01]

What Gabor’s books are about and where he and his work can be found. [2:19:25]

The problem with the way the United States deals with trauma. [2:24:47]

Parting thoughts. [2:27:05]

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