Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder Paperback – January 3, 2019

Scattered Minds explodes the myth of attention deficit disorder as genetically based – and offers real hope and advice for children and adults who live with the condition.

Gabor Maté is a revered physician who specializes in neurology, psychiatry and psychology – and himself has ADD. With wisdom gained through years of medical practice and research, Scattered Minds is a must-read for parents – and for anyone interested how experiences in infancy shape the biology and psychology of the human brain.

Scattered Minds:
– Demonstrates that ADD is not an inherited illness, but a reversible impairment and developmental delay
– Explains that in ADD, circuits in the brain whose job is emotional self-regulation and attention control fail to develop in infancy – and why
– Shows how ‘distractibility’ is the psychological product of life experience
– Allows parents to understand what makes their ADD children tick, and adults with ADD to gain insights into their emotions and behaviours
– Expresses optimism about neurological development even in adulthood
– Presents a programme of how to promote this development in both children and adults

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction Paperback – Illustrated, January 5, 2010

by MD Gabor Maté (Author), Peter A. Levine Ph.D. (Foreword)

From bestselling author Gabor Maté, the essential resource for understanding the roots and behaviors of addiction–now with an added introduction by the author.

Based on Gabor Maté’s two decades of experience as a medical doctor and his groundbreaking work with the severely addicted on Vancouver’s skid row, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts radically reenvisions this much misunderstood field by taking a holistic approach. Dr. Maté presents addiction not as a discrete phenomenon confined to an unfortunate or weak-willed few, but as a continuum that runs throughout (and perhaps underpins) our society; not a medical “condition” distinct from the lives it affects, rather the result of a complex interplay among personal history, emotional, and neurological development, brain chemistry, and the drugs (and behaviors) of addiction. Simplifying a wide array of brain and addiction research findings from around the globe, the book avoids glib self-help remedies, instead promoting a thorough and compassionate self-understanding as the first key to healing and wellness.

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts argues persuasively against contemporary health, social, and criminal justice policies toward addiction and those impacted by it. The mix of personal stories—including the author’s candid discussion of his own “high-status” addictive tendencies—and science with positive solutions makes the book equally useful for lay readers and professionals.