The Myth of Normal in an Insane Culture

CPD

Faculty

Gabor Maté, MD Related seminars and products

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Gabor Maté, MD, is a renowned speaker and bestselling author. Dr. Maté is highly sought after for his expertise on a range of topics including addiction, stress and childhood development.

His Compassionate Inquiry approach draws from his professional work as a physician as well as his personal experience, having suffered trauma as an infant in Nazi-occupied Hungary, and his adult struggles with behavioral addictions, depression, and an ADHD diagnosis.

As an author, Dr. Maté has written several bestselling books published in more than 20 languages on five continents, including the award-winning In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction; When the Body Says No: Exploring The Stress/Disease Connection; and his newest book, The Myth of Normal.

Among other honors, Dr. Maté has received the Hubert Evans Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, an Outstanding Alumnus Award from Simon Fraser University, and the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction.

"Trauma is not what happens to us. It’s what happens inside of us as a result of what happens to us.”

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Gabor Maté receives compensation as a presenter. He receives a speaking honorarium and recording and book royalties from PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Gabor Maté has no relevant non-financial relationships.

Objectives

1. Evaluate the current model of behaviorally focused parenting by highlighting how the failure to promote attachment results in an interference of the development of children's brains.
2. Investigate how the impact of early childhood adaptability impacts adulthood, leading to adults with greater mental health, medical, and substance abuse problems.
3. Defend the importance of having a trauma-informed understanding when treating clients and the ability to recognize that trauma underlies many of the problems clients present with in psychotherapy and medical treatment.
4. Appraise how physical and mental illness are natural outcomes of a way of life inimical to genuine human needs, and the ways in which treatment must go beyond a focus on symptoms to address the causes of dysfunction from a bio-psycho-social perspective.

Outline

Limitations of the Medical Model

• Societal Increase of Drug Overdose, Diseases, Mental Health Issues
• Mind & Body as Separate
• Individuals as Separate from One Another
• Individuals as Separate from Environment
• Medical Model=Individual Biology
• Addictions as Personal Choices or Genetic Pre-Disposition

Interpersonal Biology

• Biopsychosocial Model
• The Societal Epidemic of Loneliness
• A Society that Engenders Isolation & Loneliness
• Human Needs & Stressors

Societal Denial of Human Needs

• Behavioral-Focused Parenting
• Failure to Meet Attachment Needs

Brain Development

• Impact of Environment on Brain Development
• Impact of Early Childhood Adaptations on Adulthood
• Quality of Parental Interaction on Psychological & Brain Development

Trauma

• Recognizing Childhood Trauma
• Trauma-Informed Care

Target Audience

• Psychologists
• Physicians
• Addiction Counselors
• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Nurses
• Other Behavioral Health Professionals