In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER ¿ From the author of When the Body Says No and The Myth of Normal-The definitive book for understanding the roots and behaviours of addiction.

Dr. Gabor Maté is one of the world's most revered thinkers on the psychology of addiction. His radical findings-based on decades of work with patients challenged by catastrophic drug addiction and mental illness-has helped reframe how we view all human development. In this award-winning modern classic, through first-person accounts, riveting case studies, pioneering research and compassionate argument, Maté takes a panoramic yet highly intimate and compassionate look at this widespread and perplexing human ailment, whether it be addiction to alcohol, drugs, sex, money or anything self-destructive. He presents it not as a discrete phenomenon confined to a weak-willed few, but as a continuum that runs through (and even underpins) our society-not as a medical `condition', but rather the result of a complex interplay of personal history, emotional development and brain chemistry.

Distilling cutting-edge research from around the world, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts avoids glib self-help remedies, instead promoting self-understanding as the first key to healing and wellness. Blending personal stories and science with positive solutions, and written in spellbinding prose, it is a must-read that will change how you see yourself, others and the world.
1116395046
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER ¿ From the author of When the Body Says No and The Myth of Normal-The definitive book for understanding the roots and behaviours of addiction.

Dr. Gabor Maté is one of the world's most revered thinkers on the psychology of addiction. His radical findings-based on decades of work with patients challenged by catastrophic drug addiction and mental illness-has helped reframe how we view all human development. In this award-winning modern classic, through first-person accounts, riveting case studies, pioneering research and compassionate argument, Maté takes a panoramic yet highly intimate and compassionate look at this widespread and perplexing human ailment, whether it be addiction to alcohol, drugs, sex, money or anything self-destructive. He presents it not as a discrete phenomenon confined to a weak-willed few, but as a continuum that runs through (and even underpins) our society-not as a medical `condition', but rather the result of a complex interplay of personal history, emotional development and brain chemistry.

Distilling cutting-edge research from around the world, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts avoids glib self-help remedies, instead promoting self-understanding as the first key to healing and wellness. Blending personal stories and science with positive solutions, and written in spellbinding prose, it is a must-read that will change how you see yourself, others and the world.
28.5 In Stock
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

by Gabor Maté

Narrated by Daniel Maté

Unabridged — 16 hours, 26 minutes

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

by Gabor Maté

Narrated by Daniel Maté

Unabridged — 16 hours, 26 minutes

Audiobook (Digital)

$28.50
(Not eligible for purchase using B&N Audiobooks Subscription credits)

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Overview

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER ¿ From the author of When the Body Says No and The Myth of Normal-The definitive book for understanding the roots and behaviours of addiction.

Dr. Gabor Maté is one of the world's most revered thinkers on the psychology of addiction. His radical findings-based on decades of work with patients challenged by catastrophic drug addiction and mental illness-has helped reframe how we view all human development. In this award-winning modern classic, through first-person accounts, riveting case studies, pioneering research and compassionate argument, Maté takes a panoramic yet highly intimate and compassionate look at this widespread and perplexing human ailment, whether it be addiction to alcohol, drugs, sex, money or anything self-destructive. He presents it not as a discrete phenomenon confined to a weak-willed few, but as a continuum that runs through (and even underpins) our society-not as a medical `condition', but rather the result of a complex interplay of personal history, emotional development and brain chemistry.

Distilling cutting-edge research from around the world, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts avoids glib self-help remedies, instead promoting self-understanding as the first key to healing and wellness. Blending personal stories and science with positive solutions, and written in spellbinding prose, it is a must-read that will change how you see yourself, others and the world.

Product Details

BN ID: 2940169471380
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Publication date: 07/24/2018
Edition description: Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

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 minds not dependent on powerful substances—that is, how do we approach the healing of the many behaviour addictions fostered by our culture?

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