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Gabor Maté ( ; born January 1944) is a Hungarian-born Canadian physician. He has a background in family practice and a special interest in childhood development, trauma, and potential lifelong impacts on physical and mental health, including
autoimmune disease An autoimmune disease is a condition that results from an anomalous response of the adaptive immune system, wherein it mistakenly targets and attacks healthy, functioning parts of the body as if they were foreign organisms. It is estimated tha ...
,
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
,
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple con ...
(ADHD), and
addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to use a drug or engage in a behavior that produces natural reward, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use can ...
s. Maté's approach to addiction focuses on the trauma his patients have suffered and looks to address this in their recovery. In his book ''In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction'', Maté discusses the types of trauma suffered by persons with
substance use disorder Substance use disorder (SUD) is the persistent use of drugs despite substantial harm and adverse consequences to self and others. Related terms include ''substance use problems'' and ''problematic drug or alcohol use''. Along with substance-ind ...
s and how these disorders affect their decision-making in later life. He has written five books exploring topics that include ADHD, stress, developmental psychology, and addiction. He is a regular columnist for the ''
Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, and is the larg ...
'' and ''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...
''.


Early and personal life

Maté was born in
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
, Hungary, in 1944 to a Jewish family. His maternal grandparents, Josef Lövi and Hannah Lövi, who came from the town of
Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...
in eastern
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
, were killed in
Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...
when he was five months old. His aunt disappeared during the war, and his father endured forced labour at the hands of the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
. When he was one year old, Maté's mother put him in the care of a stranger for over five weeks to save his life. Upon their reunion, the infant Maté was so hurt that he avoided looking at his mother for several days. He claims this trauma of "abandonment, rage, and despair" continues to manifest itself in his adult life, leading to similar altercations when he perceives a threat of abandonment, especially from his wife. In 1956, the Maté family immigrated to Canada. He was a student during the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
era in the late 1960s and graduated with a B.A. from the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
in Vancouver. In 1969, Maté married artist and fellow UBC graduate Rae Maté (born 1948); together they have three children: Daniel, Hannah Rose, and writer and journalist
Aaron According to the Old Testament of the Bible, Aaron ( or ) was an Israelite prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of Moses. Information about Aaron comes exclusively from religious texts, such as the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament ...
.


Career

After working as a high school English and literature teacher for several years, Maté returned to the University of British Columbia to obtain his M.D. in general family practice in 1977. Maté ran a private family practice in
East Vancouver East Vancouver (also called East Van or the East Side) is a region within the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Geographically, East Vancouver is bordered to the north by Burrard Inlet, to the south by the Fraser River, and to the ea ...
for over 20 years. He was the medical coordinator of the Palliative Care Unit at Vancouver Hospital for seven years. For 12 years, he was the staff physician at Portland Hotel, a residence and resource centre in downtown Vancouver. Many of his patients had co-occurring mental health and substance use concerns, in addition to chronic health concerns, such as
HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...
. He worked in harm reduction clinics in Vancouver's
Downtown Eastside The Downtown Eastside (DTES) is a list of neighbourhoods in Vancouver, neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. One of the city's oldest neighbourhoods, the DTES is the site of a complex set of social issues, including disproportio ...
. He has written about his experiences working with persons with
substance use disorders Substance use disorder (SUD) is the persistent use of drugs despite substantial harm and adverse consequences to self and others. Related terms include ''substance use problems'' and ''problematic drug or alcohol use''. Along with substance-ind ...
in ''In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts.'' In 2008, Maté made national headlines in defence of the physicians working at Insite (a legally supervised safe injection site) after the federal Minister of Health,
Tony Clement Tony Peter Clement ('' né'' Payani; born January 27, 1961) is a Canadian former politician in the federal and Ontario governments. He was Member of Parliament for Parry Sound-Muskoka and a federal cabinet minister in the Conservative Party ...
, attacked them as unethical. In 2010, Maté became interested in the traditional Amazonian plant medicine
ayahuasca AyahuascaPronounced as in the UK and in the US. Also occasionally known in English as ''ayaguasca'' (Spanish-derived), ''aioasca'' (Brazilian Portuguese-derived), or as ''yagé'', pronounced or . Etymologically, all forms but ''yagé'' descen ...
and its potential for treating addictions. He partnered with a Peruvian
Shipibo The Shipibo-Conibo are an indigenous people along the Ucayali River in the Amazon rainforest in Peru. Formerly two groups, they eventually became one tribe through intermarriage and communal rituals and are currently known as the Shipibo-Conib ...
ayahuasquero (traditional shamanic healer) and began leading multi-day retreats for addiction treatment, including ones in a
Coast Salish The Coast Salish peoples are a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak on ...
First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...
community that were the subject of an observational study by health researchers from the
University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...
and the University of British Columbia. Although preliminary and limited by the observational study design, the research results showed that participants had significant improvements in some psychological measures and reductions in problematic substance use, suggesting that Maté's claims of therapeutic efficacy may be well-founded. However, when the Canadian federal government learned about Maté's work with ayahuasca in 2011,
Health Canada Health Canada (HC; )Health Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Health (). is the Structure of the Canadian federal government#Departments, with subsidiary units, department of the Gove ...
threatened to refer the matter to the
RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...
if he did not immediately stop his activities with an illegal drug.


Writings and views


Medicine

In his books and lectures, Maté emphasizes the role of
biopsychosocial Biopsychosocial models (BPSM) are a class of trans-disciplinary models which look at the interconnection between biology, psychology, and socio- environmental factors. These models specifically examine how these aspects play a role in a range o ...
aspects of pathology and the role of
psychological trauma Psychological trauma (also known as mental trauma, psychiatric trauma, emotional damage, or psychotrauma) is an emotional response caused by severe distressing events, such as Major trauma, bodily injury, Sexual assault, sexual violence, or ot ...
and stress. He underlines the importance of relations and social attachment for learning and health. His ideas are consistent with a
trauma-informed care Trauma-informed care (TIC) or Trauma-and violence-informed care (TVIC), is a framework for relating to and helping people who have experienced negative consequences after exposure to dangerous experiences. There is no one single TIC framework, or m ...
framework. Maté defines addiction as the use of any behaviour or substance to relieve pain in the short term, that leads to negative consequences in the long term. Without addressing the root cause of the pain, a person may try to stop but will ultimately crave further relief and be prone to relapse. By this definition, many things in modern culture have the potential to become addictive such as
gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...
,
sex Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inheri ...
,
food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for Nutrient, nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or Fungus, fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, protein (nutrient), proteins, vitamins, ...
,
work Work may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community ** Manual labour, physical work done by humans ** House work, housework, or homemaking ** Working animal, an ani ...
,
social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
, and
drugs A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestio ...
. He argues the " war on drugs" actually punishes people for having been abused and entrenches addiction more deeply, as studies show that stress is the biggest driver of addictive
relapse In internal medicine, relapse or recidivism is a recurrence of a past (typically medical) condition. For example, multiple sclerosis and malaria often exhibit peaks of activity and sometimes very long periods of dormancy, followed by relapse or r ...
and behaviour. He says a system that marginalizes, ostracizes, and institutionalizes people in facilities with no care and easy access to drugs, only worsens the problem. In a live-streamed interview with
Prince Harry Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. As the younger son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales, he is fifth in the line of succession to ...
in March 2023, Maté diagnosed the prince publicly with
PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster, traffic collision, ...
,
ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple ...
,
anxiety Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...
, and depression, based on his conversation with him and reading his autobiography '' Spare''. During the chat, Maté told Prince Harry that he had diagnosed him with ADD after reading through his book and hearing about his life experiences. His decision to do so was described as unorthodox and reckless by some critics.


Professional disagreements

Stanton Peele Stanton Peele (born January 8, 1946) is a psychologist, attorney, psychotherapist and the author of books and articles on the subject of alcoholism, addiction and addiction treatment. Career Raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Peele received h ...
,
psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...
and
psychotherapist Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...
, disagrees with Maté's notion of "trac ngevery case of addiction back to
childhood trauma Childhood trauma is often described as serious adverse childhood experiences. Children may go through a range of experiences that classify as psychological trauma; these might include neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and phys ...
. Peele writes that Maté, whom he still admires for his work with Insite where he also had worked, offers "a
reductionist Reductionism is any of several related philosophical ideas regarding the associations between phenomena which can be described in terms of simpler or more fundamental phenomena. It is also described as an intellectual and philosophical posit ...
vision of addiction". Peele, in general, disagrees with the theory adopted decades ago by modern physicians, mental health professionals, research scientists, and others, that addiction is a disease. and opposes all twelve-step drug and alcohol treatment programs. James C. Coyne, a professor at the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
, suggests that Maté, by "urges us to abandon what has evolved to be evidence-based solutions to health and social problem" although conceding that "overspecialization in research and clinical practice is an important issue". Nick Haslam, of the
University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
, found "Maté's focus on trauma as the singular primary cause of ill health is unbalanced".
Vincenzo Di Nicola Vincenzo Di Nicola is an Italian-Canadian psychologist, psychiatrist and family therapist, and philosopher of mind. Di Nicola is a tenured Full Professor in the Dept. of Psychiatry & Addiction Medicine at the University of Montreal, where he ...
, professor at the
University of Montreal A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...
, wrote that while many of his views are acceptable and based on "well-trod ground", some of his work is not evidence-based.


Israel and Palestine

In a July 2014 opinion piece, titled "Beautiful Dream of Israel has become a Nightmare", Maté described how the policies imposed by Israel were not compatible with a just peace, saying that Gaza could not be understood out of context. Maté drew direct comparisons between Gaza and the
Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (, officially , ; ) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the Nazi Germany, German authorities within the new General Government territory of Occupat ...
, commenting on the severe power imbalance. In November 2023 Maté was interviewed by
Piers Morgan Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan (; O'Meara, born 30 March 1965) is an English journalist and media personality. He began his career in 1988 at the tabloid ''The Sun (United Kingdom), The Sun''. In 1994, at the age of 29, he was appointed editor of ...
, in which he described how he cried every day for two weeks after visiting Gaza. He also called for an end to the occupation and persecution of Palestinians, as well as a return of Palestinian land occupied since 1967.


Awards

* 2009: Hubert Evans Prize for Literary Non-Fiction for ''In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction.'' * 2011: the Civic Merit Award of the
City of Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The Met ...
"for his extensive work on addiction treatment and his contributions to understanding mental health and youth related to addiction, stress and childhood development". * 2018: member of the
Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...
. * 2023: Vine Awards for Canadian Jewish Literature for the book ''The Myth of Normal'' which he co-authored with his son Daniel. The citation for the award said, "The book covers topics from brain chemistry to rethinking what is deemed 'normal.' It's beautifully written and changes the modern-day discussion on health and healing".


Criticism

Gabor Maté has argued since 1999 that trauma is the root cause of many issues. However, his perspectives on ADHD and addiction often lack substantial evidence.


Books

* * * * *


Films and videos

* * * * * * * * * * *


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mate, Gabor 20th-century Canadian physicians 21st-century Canadian physicians 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian addiction physicians Jewish physicians Canadian health activists Canadian medical writers Writers on addiction Jewish Canadian writers Jewish non-fiction writers Jewish activists for Palestinian solidarity Anti-Zionist Jews Members of the Order of Canada University of British Columbia alumni Canadian people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Hungarian emigrants to Canada Hungarian Holocaust survivors People from Vancouver 1944 births Living people