The Myth of Normal in an Insane Culture

CPD

Faculty

Gabor Maté, MD Related seminars and products

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Gabor Maté, MD (pronounced GAH-bor MAH-tay) is a retired physician who, after 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. The bestselling author of five books published in nearly 40 languages, including the award-winning In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction, Gabor is an internationally renowned speaker highly sought after for his expertise on addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the relationship of stress and illness. For his groundbreaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction, and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. His most recent book, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture is a New York Times and international bestseller.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Gabor Maté receives compensation as a presenter. He receives royalties as a published author. Dr. Maté 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