In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction Paperback – January 5, 2010

I thought I had, especially as the best book I've read in two or three decades. This is one remarkable, almost entirely unique, (I'll say it now) masterpiece by Gabor Mate. I told him so in an email to him.Few books really ought be required reading, but this is one of them. Mate, not least himself a behavioral addict, understands addictions like no one I've ever read or ever listened to. He gets it. And he gets near to the roots of addiction as anyone ever has. And then he critiques ridiculous public policy stuck in the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages can be excused for lack of access to data, writing materials, etc., etc., while modern nations cannot be excused for such reasons.But nations, led by persons addicted to power and wealth and a hundred other behaviors and substances, insist more on character assassination, placing of self-blame and then punishment I doubt Torquemada ever contemplated on such a vast scale--when 50% or so of America's extremely high prison population consists of addicts (now ex-addicts the hard way if they can't get drugs in prisons) whose violations of law were so minor as to have warranted no more (indeed, no less) than admission to places who think it a better idea to help addicts as opposed to punishing them. But when traditional "values" continue to prevail...outcome is to be expected--draconian at all times pretty much no matter the problem.One wonders just how far backward a society or civilization can move before collapsing of its own gluttony for punishment.Addiction is a sociological problem, not a psychological problem, or at worst a mix of the two. Mate understands this perfectly and has told Canadian officials as much insofar as Mate is Canadian transplanted from Hungary where he was born a Jew about the time WWII got going.I've put it more strongly than Mate does; he's nicer about it, though I doubt he's any more patient. But only a relatively small part of the book is devoted to discussion of public policy.Mostly, the book tells the stories of individual addicts Mate knows or has known (prior to their suicides or murders) on Vancouver's less swank east side. He writes of Native Canadians, who like their American kin, are more prone to addiction, not least for the way they've been regarded by the dominant races and classes. It's not as though they're more prone because native! One reads such crap all the time, however, and so Mate is refreshing as mountain air after years in a stinking city.What he writes was for me as I read utterly familiar, as though he'd taken the words from my mouth. He didn't, but just said it for me and far better than I could ever have said it. Plus, he's an actual physician with access to actual data as well as to other experts on the topics of addiction and psychology, and sociology too. This book is also science at it's best, in relation to the world beyond the theoretical.There's actual evidence, quite a lot of it, in support of Mate's claims, up to and including studies of the human brain, of what endorphins are, of how they are released and taken up in and by the brain, of how not all people really are created equal (politically in the blind eyers of the law perhaps, but not psychologically or physiologically. And not economically either). They're not, as any dope, so to speak, who thought about it for 30 seconds could not help but conclude. Addicts are sufferers in ways many of us can't imagine, while on the other hand lots of us can very well imagine and then indulge for ourselves, whether in substances or repetitive behaviors, either or both in hope of relief, not least from societal judgment.The stories are, well...cliche because like most cliche's so true...heartbreaking. Some terrible, terrible things go on all around us, a lot of it happening to children who will grow up to become addicts. (Then we'll play the blame game; namely, blame them for having made poor choices in life. What nonsense. Such game-playing ought be called what it really is, a cop out, a refusal to take responsibility for the world in which we all dwell. Easier to blame the victim for his or her plight. Poof, gone, what problem? Oh him? He deserves whatever happens, as does everyone. "One gets what one really wants." There's no end to such ""common wisdom" that dispense with reality giving nary a thought, let alone another idea. Such are customs and traditions born of ideologies.)Mate would change our systems of beliefs, as would all who tell us the truth refusing to allow us to continue to hide behind curtains consisting of myths.Obviously, I couldn't possibly recommend this book more as absolutely essential reading and on a topic slightly wider than the one advertised. Yes, it's about addicts and their various addictions, but deeper down it's a commentary on the state of our collective being. We've been pretty bad and don't seem much interested in being better, I might add. Instead we're building more prisons and fewer schools, clinics, hospitals or half-way houses liberals don't want in their backyards. We're becoming yet more hypocritical, not less so.Mate exposes us as much as the addicted, perhaps more so. I won't misstate him: He's firmly against addiction, spends much of his life trying to help people out of their addictions as he's helped himself out of his own. He doesn't dismiss personal responsibility, not in the least. Millions of addicts wouldn't make for much in the way of a functioning civilization either. Mate is tough on his patients, sometimes overly so, as he writes.But my favorite part, if you will, is when he writes of "authenticity," specifically of that he's discovered in that east side community, where addicts and hangers on, and other of society's outcasts speak and act with an authenticity unknown in society at large. I suppose that when you've hit bottom there's nothing more to be frightened of, even if fear is often at the root of or the cause of mental illnesses, whether or not addictions are regarded as mental illnesses. (I personally think so.) But there is no room, space or time for pretense among those for whom he cares enough to devote so much of his time and effort.Could we EVER use some of that authenticity in our daily dealings, in our politicians claiming to be "leaders," especially in business gone global, and most especially in foolish media where myths go to be nourished and enriched. Addicts have a lot of important things to say, far more worth listening to than some glorified, media-hyped pol, movie star, whatnot otherwise idiot.I mean the hardcore addict of whom Mate writes and treats as best he can and in more ways than as physician. When he writes of their authenticity I can just feel what he means. I KNOW what he means, also in part for the lack of it I discover or rediscover every day in my own dealings with others and in listening to media, to those who speak through media, who have ready access to media and who are looking out for their own desperate neediness first and foremost. The hardcore addict is far more honest, far more in touch with just being human, which is to be weak at the knees for all time while never ever allowed just to say so.Gabor Mate is philosopher too, one who will make you think, including about what is right and what is wrong, about authentic values, as opposed to those "family" ones always on the lips of politicians and so many of their backers, all of them clueless as to the actual nature of morality, never mind answers.It's not a self-help book though it does help a self whether or not a self asks for help, and it's not cure-all book, in the event anyone still imagines there could ever be such a thing. Mate, like a few others, Erickson, Chomsky, Marcuse, et al. and just to name some of the more recent, has a firm grip on what really matters, and so this book is about more than some junkies and their personal problems along with his own problems or even just all of our problems. It's about all those things, but by its tone--which is NEVER patronizing--and by its insight and revelation the book is also speculative philosophy in an at least one very fine tradition of non-tradition as practiced by those just mentioned and a few others, all of whom ought be essential reading for any who claims to be a citizen of the world.

Addiction explained from viewpoint of the afflicted as well as those of us who work with them. Compassionate and empathetic, Dr Mate brings the humanity back into a much stigmatized people.

My reading of this book concurs with nearly everything I've seen in the other five star reviews; so in the interest of not being repetitive, mine will be short and limited to comments and impressions not prominent in other reviews. Two such impressions stick out - one regarding the neurology of addiction; and the second, related to the first, is with respect to early brain development.My interest in this book was piqued when Stefan Molyneux recommended it in one of his podcasts. I expected that the book would do more than merely introduce the reader to the latest findings in the science of addiction; that it would also shed light on some of the larger pathological brain conditions that we don't normally think of as "addiction" per se - those conditions that lead to behaviors that we actually admire and respect. I was not disappointed one bit. In particular, in Chapter 22, Poor Substitutes for Love: Behavior Addictions and Their Origins, the author deftly describes how addictive prone brain circuitry can drive an individual to obsessions with accomplishments (pride), wealth (greed), admiration (vanity), power (lust), etc. Mate explains that the cascade of neurological events that lead to these addictions are identical to those that lead to the lesser respected ones (such as gambling, sex, food) as well as the most stigmatized, criminalized addictions (illegal drug use). Only the trigger differs. The brain conditions underneath the compulsions are the same. The author does a good job explaining the neuro-mechanisms, but does not go into very much detail, which is understandable since the book is already pretty long. A good compliment in this area would be The Compass of Pleasure by David Linden.How do we address and/or correct these brain conditions?The author's answer is on the mark. In early chapters, the author lays the foundation. First and foremost, the addiction-prone brain (genetics aside, since we cannot control our genes) results from insufficient feel-good hormones and neurotransmitters, and too many of the stress induced chemicals very early on in our lives. The latest research in epigenetics and perinatal care point directly to the nurturing environment from conception through the first year of life as the crucial period of brain development. This period will ultimately determine whether or not we later in life feel the pull toward compulsive behaviors/drugs to compensate for the dearth of "love", neurologically/physiologically speaking, we experienced in the womb and in infancy. Again, since the book is already long, Gabor Mate does not have the luxury of going into a deep description of the latest research. As a companion piece for this purpose, one could consider Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality by Darcia Narvaez. (By the way, I commend the both Gabor Mate and Darcia Narvaez for bravely making this sound and objective analysis of the topic, as it would certainly be regarded as somewhat offensive to those - I'm thinking of the popular Sheryl Sandberg "Lean In" sentiments as an example - who resist putting perinatal care at the very top of our list of cultural priorities.)The hallmark of a good book for me is one which I find enlightening and enjoyable AS I'm reading it, as well as how much I keep thinking about the contents AFTER I read it. This book did both, in addition to inspiring me to learn more about brain science, epigenetics, and moral development.