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Sep 2022
48m 4s

Don’t Accept Suffering as Normal – Dr. G...

Dave Asprey
About this episode

IN THIS EPISODE OF THE HUMAN UPGRADE™ … you’ll learn to define what’s really “normal” when it comes to your health. You’ll explore how today’s culture stresses the body, burdens the immune system, and undermines emotional balance. And why Western medicine often fails to treat the whole person.

This conversation covers an investigation into the causes of illness, a critique of how our society breeds disease, and offers a pathway to health and healing. One of the surprising things you’ll learn has to do with authenticity.

“The loss of authenticity is one of the major impacts of trauma,” says renowned Canadian speaker and bestselling author, Dr. Gabor Maté. “It's also a major cause of physical and mental illness.”

Dr. Maté is highly sought after for his expertise on topics like addiction, stress, trauma, and childhood development. He spent two decades in family practice and palliative care. He also worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side (Canada) with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness.

In his newest book, “The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, & Healing in a Toxic Culture,” he pushes back on the prevailing understanding of “normal” because it neglects the roles that trauma and stress—and the pressures of modern-day living—exert on our bodies and our minds at the expense of good health. 

“If you're suffering, don't accept it as normal, but ask what's going on here?” Dr. Maté says. “Let the suffering instruct you that there's something going on; that what you think is normal is actually not healthy or natural for you.”

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