Tim Ferriss with Dr. Gabor Mate: Redefining Addiction
Tim Ferriss with Dr. Gabor Mate: Redefining Addiction
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show w/ Dr. Gabor Mate—New Paradigms, Ayahuasca, and Redefining Addiction (Listen: 2hrs, 32 min)
Contributor: Selena Garcia
“ADDICTION ISN’T THE PRIMARY PROBLEM; IT’S AN ATTEMPT TO SOLVE A PROBLEM.” - DR. GABOR MATE
Dr. Gabor Mate is a physician who specializes in neurology, psychology and psychiatry. He's well known for studying and treating addiction.
In this interview with Tim Ferriss, they cover some serious ground. They talk about the link between creativity, sensitivity and suffering, to neurology, ADHD, psychedelic medicine and palliative care, just to name a few.
One of the things I love about Tim Ferriss is that he rolls up his sleeves and goes deep on his work and his interviews. He does his due diligence and then some. He is an excellent example of being forever a student.
Here, Dr. Gabor Mate notes: "Addiction is not the primary problem. It's an attempt to solve a problem. In other words, it's always rooted in childhood trauma, and the addiction is an attempt to deal with childhood trauma, which it does temporarily while it creates even more problems in the long term.
"So, now, this leads to the other question of trauma because it’s one thing to recognize that all of this originates in childhood pain. It’s quite another to transform that pain. And for that, we have to understand what trauma is. So, people often think that trauma is what happens to you.
“But the trauma is not what happens to you. The trauma is what happens inside of you.”
“THE TRAUMA IS NOT WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU. THE TRAUMA IS WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE OF YOU.” - DR. GABOR MATE
Dr. Mate: "And, as a result of these traumatic events, what happens inside you is you get disconnected from your emotions, and you get disconnected from your body, and you have difficulty being in the present moment. And you develop a negative view of your world and a negative view of yourself and a defensive view of other people. And these perspectives keep showing up in your life in the present because they’re the ‘stupid friends.’
Dr. Mate: "So, if we understand that addiction, in every case, is rooted in some painful, internal experience, when you ask people what does the addiction do for you, they'll say it numbs me. It soothes the pain. It makes me feel connected with other people.
Dr. Mate: “It gives me a sense of control. It gives me inner peace. Well, the lack of inner peace, the lack of control, the lack of connection, they all are forms of emotional pain. If I ask the question now why the addiction but why the pain, then, that leads to an examination of that person's life rather than looking just at their brain chemistry.
Dr. Mate: “They say growing scientific evidence that social and physical environments that threaten human development because of scarcity, stress, or instability can lead to short term physiologic and psychological adjustments that are necessary for immediate survival and adaptation, or which may come at a significant cost to long term outcomes in learning, behavior, health, and longevity. That’s what I was saying before. That those early adaptations, like pushing down your feelings when the feelings are too painful, will help you as an infant or young child. But then, they cause problems later on.”
READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT AND LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW, HERE. (2hrs, 32min)
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