A review by kailas
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction by Gabor Maté
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
This book is incredible and absolutely everyone should read it. The supposed causality of genetics and their relation to habits or dispositions to mental conditions is pushed out of the window like a portable aircon, and the inexcusable failing of our system to support mothers throughout their pregnancy and early raising years is underlined brilliantly. As with so many aspects of the world we live in, the evidence presented in this work proves how capable we are of making decisions that support a healthy population and transition into caring communities despite the insistance of ignorant and criminal decisions made by those with sway for change (and accepted unwittingly by the unorganized masses).
On addiction at a personal level this is an excerpt I found very interesting and helpful from later in the book:
Justification is another form of judgement every bit as debilitating as condemnation. When we justify we hope to win the judges favour, or to hoodwink her. Justification connives to absolve the self of responsibility. Understanding helps us assume responsibility. When we don’t have to defend ourselves against others, or what’s more, against ourselves, we are open to seeing how things are. I become free to acknowledge the addiction the moment the fact of having behaved along addictive patterns no longer means that I’m a failure as a person- unworthy of respect, shallow and valueless. I can own it and see the many ways it sabotages my real goals in life.
On addiction at a personal level this is an excerpt I found very interesting and helpful from later in the book:
Justification is another form of judgement every bit as debilitating as condemnation. When we justify we hope to win the judges favour, or to hoodwink her. Justification connives to absolve the self of responsibility. Understanding helps us assume responsibility. When we don’t have to defend ourselves against others, or what’s more, against ourselves, we are open to seeing how things are. I become free to acknowledge the addiction the moment the fact of having behaved along addictive patterns no longer means that I’m a failure as a person- unworthy of respect, shallow and valueless. I can own it and see the many ways it sabotages my real goals in life.