The average physician, when they do their prenatal visit, they don’t a — Gabor Maté

"Trauma and stress are so normal in society that we take them to be almost natural occurrences... We think this is normal. But actually, from the point of view of human needs and human evolution, the current way of living that we pursue is actually abnormal and is the cause of a lot of ailments of body and mind... a lot can be done as long as we recognize the problem. The issue is that my own profession, the medical profession, despite all the science that links the mind and body, emotions and physiology, doesn’t link them... physicians are not trained in understanding the whole human being and the unshakeable oneness of our existence."

"Capitalism is the system that we live under... and for all its economic achievements and scientific breakthroughs — which are very unevenly distributed, with a lot of inequality, which itself is a source of illness — it’s a system that’s based on fundamental assumptions... that people are individualistic and competitive... In fact, from an evolutionary point of view, had we been individualistic and competitive, we never would have evolved. We evolved as communal creatures in close contact with each other, with a lot of mutual support. Now, if you develop a system that’s based on the opposite perspective... then you’re running roughshod over human needs. And so to understand what’s happening on an individual level, you really have to look at what’s happening on a macro level. And this trauma shows up, not only in the personalized, but of course in politics and other areas of our culture. So we really have to look at the larger picture, and not just think that illness is somehow an individual aberration. It’s really a manifestation of a system that is a toxic culture."

"In our society, we tend to look at peoples behaviours, rather than ask what is behind the behaviour... Kids are considered to be bad or good, but nobodys asking what is making the child behave a certain way... Ive never met a single person who ever chose to be a drug addict... Its easy to focus on how someone is different from you than recognize what you share... That tendency is magnified when the person doesnt resemble you. Consider the "stereotyped image" of a drug user one may pass on the street... We see them as something other than ourselves... And its hard for us to recognize our common humanity... In reality, most people have more in common with drug users than theyd like to admit... Virtually everybodys got some kind of an addiction. Maybe not to drugs, but to some behaviour that they crave that gives them relief. Whether its video games, sex, work or shopping, addictions to any of these activities tap into the same brain circuits that drug users activate with intoxicating substances."