Take a photo of a barcode or cover
ioanareadsbookssometimes 's review for:
Since moving to Seattle, I have felt my compassion for drug addiction slowly eroding; frustration, contempt, apathy, and (sometimes justified, but too often misplaced) discomfort taking its place. In the realm of hungry ghosts was the clobber over the head I needed to reframe my perspective. Maté's book is a salient and poignant reminder of why drug addiction is not the addicts' fault. It is a sobering look at how broken our system is, but it is also a ray of hope for how we can improve at both societal and individual levels. Maté deftly weaves together anecdotes from his perspective as a physician with quantitative statistics and studies. He rarely comes off as proselytizing or condescending, and is bracingly honest about his own lapses in compassion. I read this book with a speed and ferocity that I rarely manage with heavy non-fiction, and months later its messages are still imprinted on my brain.
"One may never fully defeat addiction. Triumph and defeat; these are metaphors of war. If, as research shows, addictions rise near our emotional core, to defeat them we would have to wage war against ourselves. And a war against parts of the self - even maladaptive, dysfunctional parts - can only lead to inner discord and more distress".
"One may never fully defeat addiction. Triumph and defeat; these are metaphors of war. If, as research shows, addictions rise near our emotional core, to defeat them we would have to wage war against ourselves. And a war against parts of the self - even maladaptive, dysfunctional parts - can only lead to inner discord and more distress".