Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté

5 reviews

sareeta's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

3.5

This is a good introduction to trauma and its impact as well as how to manage it. I didn’t find it particularly new, or a breakthrough in any way. A much easier read than The Body Keeps the Score but still took me a year to read because the content can be tough. I liked reading about psilocybin and the sections on healing, but I also am critical of some of the discussion on neurodivergence and I think Maté is just a little close to blaming people for their health issues. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: Death and Drug use

Minor: Ableism

There is some content about how certain practices have “healed” people from ADHD.

brogan7's review

challenging informative slow-paced

2.0

Disappointing reading.  Maté has a lot to say on a variety of topics(childbirth , child-rearing, trauma, the mind-body connection, capitalism and social ills that are not incidental but integral to it)--but he seems caught up in a culture of death-defiance and delusion when it comes to people with chronic illness and cancer, essentially arguing that people can clear themselves of conditions without medical intervention, just by the way they think about their healing.  This is dangerous and frankly cruel, as a doctor and as a public figure, to dangle that out there as though people who die of cancer are just failing in their attitudes, and implicitly suggesting to people that quitting conventional treatment can lead to miraculous outcomes.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use

TW: quackery

emmawall's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Death, Drug use, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, Chronic illness, Grief, Cancer, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and War

meganpbell's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

A must read for fans of The Body Keeps the Score and anyone interested in the science and literature of trauma (should be us all!), The Myth of Normal is a moving, groundbreaking, and holistic exploration of just how sick “normal” is, the connection between the mind, personality, experiences, culture and the body, and ways to move forward and heal. I wish it was even more inclusive than it was, but I found it eye-opening, affirming, and crucial.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Addiction, Death, Abandonment, Antisemitism, Body horror, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Cancer, Chronic illness, Classism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Genocide, Medical trauma, War, Pregnancy, Racism, and Terminal illness

rly's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Addiction, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Sexual assault, Suicide, Drug use, War, Violence, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Racism, Racial slurs, and Pedophilia