In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts

by Maté, Gabor; Levine, Peter A.

• ISBN13: 9781556438806
• ISBN10: 155643880X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-01-05
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Summary

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts is a compassionate look at drug addiction by best-selling author and physician Gabor Mat. This insightful book explores the scientific and psychological causes of addiction, as well as the impact on the addicts treated at the Downtown Eastside Vancouver clinic where Mat is a physician. He widens the lens to address the larger societal problem - speaking also to the risks of the more "high-status" addictions, such as wealth, power, and sex. He boldly challenges the War on Drugs, proposing a more holistic, constructive set of alternatives. A riveting, debate-provoking book about an illness that reaches all levels of society, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts provides a much-needed glimpse of hope from an innovator who is taking on addiction with startling clarity, vision, and wisdom. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Gabor Maté, MD, is a physician, author, seminar leader, and acclaimed public speaker. His bestselling books include Scattered, When the Body Says No, and Hold onto Your Kids. A former medical columnist for The Vancouver Sun and The Globe and Mail, he lives in Vancouver, BC.

Table of Contents

Author's Note	p. xiv
Preface to the U.S. Edition	p. xv
Foreword by Peter Levine	p. xvii
Hungry Ghosts: The Realm of Addiction	p. 1
Hellbound Train	p. 5
The Only Home He's Ever Had	p. 7
The Lethal Hold of Drugs	p. 26
The Keys of Paradise: Addiction as a Flight from Distress	p. 35
You Wouldn't Believe My Life Story	p. 49
Angela's Grandfather	p. 59
Pregnancy Journal	p. 63
Beethoven's Birth Room	p. 77
There's Got to Be Some Light	p. 90
Physician, Heal Thyself	p. 105
Takes One to Know One	p. 107
Twelve-Step Journal: April 5, 2006	p. 123
A Different State of The Brain	p. 133
What Is Addiction?	p. 135
From Vietnam to "Rat Park": Do Drugs Cause Addiction?	p. 140
A Different State of the Brain	p. 148
Through a Needle, a Warm, Soft Hug	p. 156
Cocaine, Dopamine, and Candy Bars: The Incentive System in Addiction	p. 166
Like a Child Not Released	p. 173
How the Addicted Brain Develops	p. 185
Their Brains Never Had a Chance	p. 187
Trauma, Stress, and the Biology of Addiction	p. 197
It's Not in the Genes	p. 211
The Addiction Process and The Addictive Personality	p. 221
"A Void I'll Do Anything to Avoid"	p. 223
Too Much Time on External Things: The Addiction-Prone Personality	p. 232
Poor Substitutes for Love: Behavioral Addictions and Their Origins	p. 240
Imagining a Humane Reality: Beyond The War on Drugs	p. 261
The Social Roots of Addiction	p. 263
Know Thine Enemy	p. 281
"Ignorant Fanaticism": The Failed War on Drugs	p. 287
Freedom of Choice and the Choice of Freedom	p. 301
Toward an Enlightened Social Policy on Drugs	p. 313
Reducing Harm	p. 330
The Ecology of Healing	p. 347
The Power of Compassionate Curiosity	p. 349
The Internal Climate	p. 360
The Four Steps, Plus One	p. 374
Sobriety and the External Milieu	p. 385
A Word to Families, Friends, and Caregivers	p. 400
There Is Nothing Lost: Addiction and the Spiritual Quest	p. 411
Memories and Miracles: An Epilogue	p. 422
Postscript	p. 430
Appendices	p. 431
Fallacies of Adoption and Twin Studies	p. 431
A Close Link: Attention Deficit Disorder and Addicrions	p. 438
The Prevention of Addiction	p. 443
The Twelve Steps	p. 446
Endnotes	p. 450
Acknowledgments	p. 477
Permissions	p. 479
Index	p. 481
About the Author	p. 491
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

No society can understand itself without looking at its shadow side. I believe there is one addiction process, whether it is manifested in the lethal substance dependencies of my Downtown Eastside patients; the frantic self_soothing of overeaters or shopaholics; the obsessions of gamblers, sexaholics and compulsive internet users; or the socially acceptable and even admired behaviours of the workaholic. Drug addicts are often dismissed and discounted as unworthy of empathy and respect. In telling their stories my intent is twofold: to help their voices to be heard and to shed light on the origins and nature of their ill_fated struggle to overcome suffering through substance abuse. They have much in common with the society that ostracizes them. If they seem to have chosen a path to nowhere, they still have much to teach the rest of us. In the dark mirror of their lives, we can trace outlines of our own.

There is a host of questions to be considered. Among them:

• What are the causes of addictions?
• What is the nature of the addiction-prone personality?
• What happens physiologically in the brains of addicted people?
• How much choice does the addict really have?
• Why is the "War on Drugs" a failure and what might be a humane, evidence-based approach to the treatment of severe drug addiction?
• What are some of the paths for redeeming addicted mindsnotdependent on powerful substances—that is, how do we approach the healing of the many behaviour addictions fostered by our culture?

---

Excerpted from In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction by Gabor Maté
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.