In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts

Paperback, 495 pages

English language

Published Dec. 9, 2010 by North Atlantic Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-55643-880-6

(1 review)

From street-dwelling drug addicts to high-functioning workaholics, the continuum of addiction cuts a wide and painful swath through our culture.

Blending first-person accounts, riveting case studies, cutting-edge research and passionate argument, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction (available for order in Canadian, U.S. and UK Editions) takes a panoramic yet highly intimate look at this widespread and perplexing human ailment.

Countering prevailing notions of addiction as either a genetic disease or an individual moral failure, Dr. Gabor Maté presents an eloquent case that addiction – all addiction – is in fact a case of human development gone askew.

Dr. Maté, who for twelve years practiced medicine in Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside – North America’s most concentrated area of drug use, begins by telling the stories of his patients, who, in their destitution and uniformly tragic histories, represent one extreme of the addictive spectrum. With his trademark …

From street-dwelling drug addicts to high-functioning workaholics, the continuum of addiction cuts a wide and painful swath through our culture.

Blending first-person accounts, riveting case studies, cutting-edge research and passionate argument, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction (available for order in Canadian, U.S. and UK Editions) takes a panoramic yet highly intimate look at this widespread and perplexing human ailment.

Countering prevailing notions of addiction as either a genetic disease or an individual moral failure, Dr. Gabor Maté presents an eloquent case that addiction – all addiction – is in fact a case of human development gone askew.

Dr. Maté, who for twelve years practiced medicine in Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside – North America’s most concentrated area of drug use, begins by telling the stories of his patients, who, in their destitution and uniformly tragic histories, represent one extreme of the addictive spectrum. With his trademark compassion and unflinching narrative eye, he brings to life their ill-fated and mostly misunderstood struggle for relief or escape, through substance use, from the pain that has tormented them since childhood. He also shows how the behavioral addictions of society’s more fortunate members – including himself – differ only in degree of severity from the drug habits of his Downtown Eastside patients, and how in reality there is only one addiction process, its core objective being the self-soothing of deep-seated fears and discomforts.

1 edition

Eduardo Santiago reviewed In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté

Review of 'In the realm of hungry ghosts' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

What an extraordinary voice. What a tragedy that more people aren’t reading this book. Because let’s be honest: if I urged you to read it, would you? Probably not. You’re not an addict; you don’t even know any. It’s simply not a factor in our lives. But oh, yes, it is. And this book is so much more besides.

If I was forced to describe this book in one word, I’d go for two: compassion and reason. Reason, because Maté repeatedly demonstrates what works for addiction prevention and treatment, and what shows hope, with years of evidence to back his assertions. (He also shows what doesn’t work: the moronic US "war" approach. But you knew that already). Compassion, because every page brims with it. The hard stuff, requiring self-knowledge and inner work, not smarmy feel-good platitudes. And if I could add one more word, it would be “early childhood environment …

What an extraordinary voice. What a tragedy that more people aren’t reading this book. Because let’s be honest: if I urged you to read it, would you? Probably not. You’re not an addict; you don’t even know any. It’s simply not a factor in our lives. But oh, yes, it is. And this book is so much more besides.

If I was forced to describe this book in one word, I’d go for two: compassion and reason. Reason, because Maté repeatedly demonstrates what works for addiction prevention and treatment, and what shows hope, with years of evidence to back his assertions. (He also shows what doesn’t work: the moronic US "war" approach. But you knew that already). Compassion, because every page brims with it. The hard stuff, requiring self-knowledge and inner work, not smarmy feel-good platitudes. And if I could add one more word, it would be “early childhood environment is crucial”. (There’s probably a language somewhere in which that is one word. I wish all languages were thus.)

And, can he ever write. It’s a long book, and not quick reading, but it’s exquisite reading.

Subjects

Substance abuse -- British Columbia -- Vancouver
Substance-Related Disorders -- physiopathology
Behavior, Addictive -- physiopathology
Behavior, Addictive -- psychology