Articles by Dr. Gabor Maté

VANCOUVER SUN | THE GLOBE AND MAIL | COMMON GROUND

VANCOUVER SUN (back to top)

The Healing Force Within (April 8, 2003)

“I never get angry, says a Woody Allen character in one of the director’s movies, “I grow a tumour instead.” Much more scientific truth is encapsulated in that droll remark than many doctors would recognize.

For all its triumphs and technical progress, mainstream Western medical practice militantly dismisses the role of emotions in the physiological functioning of the human organism. Its rejection of the mind/body unity is a classic case of denial.

In over two decades of family medicine, including seven years of palliative care work, I was struck by how consistently the lives of people with chronic illness are characterized by emotional shut down: the paralysis of “negative” emotions--in particular, the feeling and expression of anger. This pattern held true in a wide range of diseases from cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis to inflammatory bowel disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Sufferers from asthma, psoriasis, migraines, fibromyalgia, endometriosis and a host of other conditions also exhibited similar inhibitions. People seemed incapable of considering their own emotional needs and were driven by a compulsive sense of responsibility for the needs of others. They all had difficulty saying no.

One of the terminally ill patients under my care was a middle-aged man, chief executive of a company that marketed shark cartilage as a treatment for cancer. By the time he was admitted to our palliative care unit his own recently diagnosed cancer had spread throughout his body. He continued to eat shark cartilage almost to the day of his death, but not because he any longer believed in its value. It smelled foul–the offensive stench was noticeable even at some distance away-- and I could only imagine what it tasted like. “I hate it,” he told me, “but my business partner would be so disappointed if I stopped.” I convinced him that he had every right to live his last days without carrying the burden of someone else’s disappointment. Read the rest of this article...

THE GLOBE AND MAIL (back to top)

Menopause and the Hormone Hangover (July 16, 2002)

Let's stop seeking miracle cures for natural processes and embracing treatments before we know their long-term effects, says Dr. Gabor Maté

Recently a large-scale U.S. study on the effects of hormone-replacement therapy (known widely as HRT) for menopause was abruptly terminated three years ahead of schedule. This provides a dramatic illustration of much that is wrong with the current practice of medicine.

Five years into the study's projected eight-year duration, it has become clear that the harm done by the hormone combination significantly outweighs its potential benefits. Contrary to what women have been advised, rather than preventing heart disease, the drugs increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes and also elevate the risk for breast cancer. Read the rest of this article...


Why They Call It High Blood Pressure (February 1, 2003)

Many CBC listeners were chagrined to learn last week that radio personality Shelagh Rogers is taking a break from her national morning program, Sounds Like Canada. Although Ms. Rogers is rumoured to be exhausted from hassles with CBC management, the ebullient radio host insisted, "It is not a stress leave. It is because I have high blood pressure."

Ms. Rogers may be excused for making that false distinction. In keeping with the mind/body split endemic in Western culture, the medical profession itself fails to recognize -- despite ample research evidence -- the connection between the stresses of modern life and elevated blood pressure. Insufficient attention is paid to stress reduction as a way of treating high blood pressure. Read the rest of this article...


The Woman Who Never Got Mad (March 8, 2003)

Bottling up your anger can be fatal, writes GABOR MATÉ, who believes that suppressing such an emotion can trigger malignancy and immune mutiny. Take the case of Caitlin, a 'pretty gentle soul' who died of scleroderma at 42

A patient of mine, Caitlin, died within a year of her diagnosis with scleroderma, an autoimmune disease. In scleroderma, from the Greek word meaning "hardened skin," the immune system turns against the body, damaging the connective tissues. There is stiffening of the skin, esophagus, heart and tissues in the lungs and elsewhere.

I came to know Caitlin well only in her final months. Although I had delivered her children and remained their doctor, until her diagnosis with scleroderma Caitlin attended a female physician.

Caitlin was a kind and quiet woman with concern for everyone but herself. When she was asked how she was, her response was always accompanied by a warm, self-effacing smile that served to protect her listener from the physical and emotional pain she was experiencing. Read the rest of this article...

COMMON GROUND (back to top)

Stress and Cancer (April 21, 2003)

More young people are being diagnosed with cancer in this country, according to a report released this past spring by the Canadian Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute. Unfortunately, research into the causes of this disturbing trend will focus on the usual suspects while ignoring what likely is the most prevalent, single contributing factor: socially-induced, psychoemotional stress.

Stress remains outside the frame of reference of mainstream medical thinking, despite its documented negative effects on the immune system and despite many studies that confirm an association between cancer and people's life stresses. Read the rest of this article...

Now comes Gabor Maté , an insightful, no-nonsense, and thoroughly compassionate physician who provides an overview of all these perspectives and comes to the marvelously humane conclusion that ADD/ADHD is neither nature (genetics) nor nurture (parenting/environment) but, rather, the result of the collision of a predisposing nature with an ADD-hostile life situation, family, school, or job. How refreshing!

-Thom Hartman, author of ADD: A Different Perception and many other books about ADD