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A review by pcdbigfoot
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction by Gabor Maté
4.75
"“At the core of every addiction is an emptiness based in abject fear. The addict dreads and abhors the present moment; she bends feverishly only toward the next time, the moment when her brain, infused with her drug of choice, will briefly experience itself as liberated from the burden of the past and the fear of the future ..."
This book helped me understand addiction to a greater degree. There are no easy answers offered here, the value is in the deeper understanding.
Maté leads with painful stories of addicts he's worked with, establishing that this condition isn't a 'choice', and that it's not as simple as moral weakness. He talks us through the brain chemistry, and presents some interesting ideas about what motivates addictive behavior. He's careful not to call it an illness, because I think he doesn't want to externalize it. Rather - this is something we need to understand, accept, and learn to live with.
He's unequivocal about saying that it's not a simple genetic thing, advancing the claim that genetic 'predisposition' aside, that addiction is a set of coping mechanisms learned when we're subject to stress as our brains develop.
In recovery just over five years myself, I'm still working on how to feel about it. A key part for me is understanding how I and others get here. Maté does that without moralizing, extending compassion along with mindful self-accountability. The basis in compassion has been one of the things that's helped me to let go of the self-destructive defense mechanisms.
This felt like an important book for me to read. I'd highly recommend it for addicts, their loved ones, and anyone seeking to better understand addiction.
This book helped me understand addiction to a greater degree. There are no easy answers offered here, the value is in the deeper understanding.
Maté leads with painful stories of addicts he's worked with, establishing that this condition isn't a 'choice', and that it's not as simple as moral weakness. He talks us through the brain chemistry, and presents some interesting ideas about what motivates addictive behavior. He's careful not to call it an illness, because I think he doesn't want to externalize it. Rather - this is something we need to understand, accept, and learn to live with.
He's unequivocal about saying that it's not a simple genetic thing, advancing the claim that genetic 'predisposition' aside, that addiction is a set of coping mechanisms learned when we're subject to stress as our brains develop.
In recovery just over five years myself, I'm still working on how to feel about it. A key part for me is understanding how I and others get here. Maté does that without moralizing, extending compassion along with mindful self-accountability. The basis in compassion has been one of the things that's helped me to let go of the self-destructive defense mechanisms.
This felt like an important book for me to read. I'd highly recommend it for addicts, their loved ones, and anyone seeking to better understand addiction.