The Myth of Normal

We tend to believe that normality equals health. But in today’s modern world, rising rates of anxiety, depression, addiction and chronic illness suggest otherwise. So, what is normal – and is it making us unwell?

In this life-affirming book, Dr Gabor Maté connects the dots between trauma, mental health, and physical illness, showing how our health is shaped by the pressures and expectations of modern life.

Drawing on decades of clinical experience, and real-life stories of people transforming their bodies and minds, Dr Gabor Maté offers a compassionate and hopeful path to healing, self-awareness and emotional wellbeing.

In The Myth of Normal, you’ll discover:

Why the illnesses of body and mind can natural responses to a toxic culture
How stress and emotional suppression affect the body
The science behind the mind-body connection in healing and wellbeing
A hopeful path towards resilience, balance and authenticity

A celebrated speaker and bestselling author, DR. GABOR MATÉ is highly sought after for his expertise on a range of topics, such as addiction, stress, and childhood development. Dr. Maté has written several bestselling books, including the award-winning In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction; When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress; and Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder. He is also the co-author of Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers. His works have been published internationally in more than thirty languages.

Gabor Mate takes us on an epic journey of discovery about how our emotional well-being, and our social connectivity (in short: how we live), is intimately intertwined with health, disease and addictions ... This riveting and beautifully written tale has profound implications for all of our lives, including the practice of medicine and mental health — Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score

Wise, sophisticated, rigorous and creative: an intellectual and compassionate investigation of who we are and who we may become — Tara Westover, author of Educated

A book literally everyone will be enriched by - a wise, profound and healing work that is the culmination of Dr Maté's many years of deep and painfully accumulated wisdom — Johann Hari, author of Stolen Focus

An astonishing achievement, epic in scope and yet profoundly down-to-earth and practical. I will read this book again and again — V (formerly Eve Ensler), author of The Vagina Monologues

Brilliant, compelling and groundbreaking. Gabor Maté offers us a way to bring clear seeing and a greatness of heart to the crisis of our times — Tara Brach, author of Radical Compassion

A book in which readers can seek refuge and solace during moments of profound personal and social crisis — Esther Perel, psychotherapist and author of Mating in Captivity

Gabor Maté's connections - between the intensely personal and the global, the spiritual and the medical, the psychological and the political - are bold, wise and deeply moral. He is a healer to be cherished — Naomi Klein, author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine

A compelling book that will challenge your views and help lift the veil of illusion to what is truly happening in your mind and in your body — Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Happiness

Gripping ... a powerful call for change in how we live with, love, understand, treat, and think about each other — Rebecca Solnit, author of Men Explaining Everything To Me

Dr Maté has completely transformed how the world sees, talks about and understands trauma. And he has absolutely had that impact on me and it's been life-changing. — Mel Robbins, #1 global bestselling author of The Let Them Theory