Amy Goodman: How We've Created a Nation Addicted to Shopping, Work, Drugs and Sex

[marmar]

from Democracy Now!, via AlterNet:




Trauma: How We've Created a Nation Addicted to Shopping, Work, Drugs and Sex
Post-industrial capitalism has completely destroyed the conditions required for healthy childhood development.

....(snip)....



DR. GABOR MATÉ: The hardcore drug addicts that I treat, are, without exception, people who have had extraordinarily difficult lives. And the commonality is childhood abuse. In other words, these people all enter life under extremely adverse circumstances. Not only did they not get what they need for healthy development, they actually got negative circumstances of neglect. I don’t have a single female patient in the Downtown Eastside who wasn’t sexually abused, for example, as were many of the men, or abused, neglected and abandoned serially, over and over again.

And that’s what sets up the brain biology of addiction. In other words, the addiction is related both psychologically, in terms of emotional pain relief, and neurobiological development to early adversity.

AMY GOODMAN: What does the title of your book mean, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts?

DR. GABOR MATÉ: Well, it’s a Buddhist phrase. In the Buddhists’ psychology, there are a number of realms that human beings cycle through, all of us. One is the human realm, which is our ordinary selves. The hell realm is that of unbearable rage, fear, you know, these emotions that are difficult to handle. The animal realm is our instincts and our id and our passions.

....(snip)....


AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to this point that you just raised about the destruction of American childhood. What do you mean by that?

DR. GABOR MATÉ: Well, the conditions in which children develop have been so corrupted and troubled over the last several decades that the template for normal brain development is no longer present for many, many kids. And Dr. Bessel Van der Kolk, who’s a professor of psychiatry at Boston—University of Boston, he actually says that the neglect or abuse of children is the number one public health concern in the United States. A recent study coming out of Notre Dame by a psychologist there has shown that the conditions for child development that hunter-gatherer societies provided for their children, which are the optimal conditions for development, are no longer present for our kids. And she says, actually, that the way we raise our children today in this country is increasingly depriving them of the practices that lead to well-being in a moral sense. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/world/149325/trauma%3A_how_we%27ve_created_a_nation_addicted_to_shopping%2C_work%2C_drugs_and_sex/

[dana_b]

1. thank you

this will be an interesting read.

[Mika]

2. Democracy Now! Amy Goodman interview with Dr. Maté

Dr. Gabor Maté on the Stress-Disease Connection, Addiction, Attention Deficit Disorder and the Destruction of American Childhood
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/24/dr_gabor_mat_on_the_stress

a Democracy Now! special with the Canadian physician and bestselling author, Dr. Gabor Maté.
From disease to addiction, parenting to attention deficit disorder, Dr. Maté’s work focuses on
the centrality of early childhood experiences to the development of the brain, and how those
experiences can impact everything from behavioral patterns to physical and mental illness.
While the relationship between emotional stress and disease, and mental and physical health
more broadly, is often considered controversial within medical orthodoxy, Dr. Maté argues too
many doctors seem to have forgotten what was once a commonplace assumption, that emotions
are deeply implicated in both the development of illness, addictions and disorders, and in their
healing.

[truedelphi]

3. I don't mind about the shopping, drugs, sex part of it, but am confused

About the work end of it.

Apparently Goodman still has a job. (And I for one am grateful she does.) But many of us no longer have jobs.

That is all the fault of the Chicago school of economic fallacies (Oops - policies.) And of course, the fault of the long line of politicians who helped allow those doctrines into our daily lives. Thank you Ron Reaga, George The Elder, Bill Clinton, George the Dumber, and now President Obama.

You can read pages and pages of the Chicago School doctrine, and never find the word "Jobs" mentioned. Those doctrines relate only to having cheap goods.

And now that the Bush/Obama people are figuring out how to shepherd many of us into Rehabilitation Centers for whatever reason, there will probably be American prisoners making American made goods for sale at prices rivaling those of Chinese prison made goods.

[EFerrari]

5. Addiction to work is very real.

My mom, and two uncles nearly killed themselves and wrecked their families.

[Teaser]

8. I'm addicted to my work

and very happy with the situation.

[EFerrari]

10. That's very cool, Teaser.

:)

[Teaser]

11. has its ups and downs

mostly good.

no one gets through life without being addicted to something.

[EFerrari]

12. That's probably true.

These big brains always seem to need something to lock onto so the rest of the system can stay on an even keel.

[Harry Monroe]

16. No one, on their deathbed, ever said

"I wish I'd spent more time at the office".

[skepticscott]

17. or

"I wish that I had watched more television". The addiction to mindless audiovisual stimulation seems to me as extreme as any of the others mentioned.

[lelgt60]

21. How do you know? n/t

[Teaser]

22. how do you know?

that's a large sample to collect.

[Lorien]

13. Yep. My mom is also a workaholic, as am I

She never said "have a good time", she always said "Have a productive day". When we were kids her mantra was "life isn't about having fun. It's about hard work. The sooner you accept that the better." She hated for us to be idle an unproductive for any amount of time. A lot of people don't know what to do with themselves if they aren't working. It's an American thing; being productive is the be all, end all of life. The time I've spent being unemployed over the past several years has been Hell, and not just because of the poverty.

[Hydra]

23. *Nods*

Same boat. I hope you find the same thing I did during my desperate unemployment times- that the culture of work is bankrupt.

*Dances in the wind*

[bluerum]

4. Great interview. The nature vs nurture debate rages still. eom

[delightfulstar]

6. So much of society is in the toilet...

I believe it starts at home. I'm not a prude, but there are things that I do not allow my kids to see or hear, because they aren't psychologically mature enough to understand them. I'd rather expose them to other types of free thought - such as being good, fair, honest people. My oldest is nearly 13, and I feel it's so important to encourage him to think for himself, and to be open to things other than the overhyped, dumbed-down, hypersexed, supermaterialistic aspects of modern society. He is a very aware individual, for his age, and isn't afraid to ask questions that need to be asked. It's a huge departure from how I was raised (a father who couldn't be there, and a mother who wouldn't), and he will no doubt grow to be very conscious of the real world on his own merits, not based on what he's been force-fed.

[yodermon]

7. Key quote from page 2 ( re: nature/nurture & politics: )

DR. GABOR MATÉ: Well, if people’s behaviors and dysfunctions are regulated, controlled and determined by genes, we don’t have to look at child welfare policies, we don’t have to look at the kind of support that we give to pregnant women, we don’t have to look at the kind of non-support that we give to families, so that, you know, most children in North America now have to be away from their parents from an early age on because of economic considerations. And especially in the States, because of the welfare laws, women are forced to go find low-paying jobs far away from home, often single women, and not see their kids for most of the day. Under those conditions, kids’ brains don’t develop the way they need to.

And so, if it’s all caused by genetics, we don’t have to look at those social policies; we don’t have to look at our politics that disadvantage certain minority groups, so cause them more stress, cause them more pain, in other words, more predisposition for addictions; we don’t have to look at economic inequalities. If it’s all genes, it’s all—we’re all innocent, and society doesn’t have to take a hard look at its own attitudes and policies.

http://www.alternet.org/world/149325/trauma%3A_how_we%27ve_created_a_nation_addicted_to_shopping%2C_work%2C_drugs_and_sex?page=2

[Teaser]

9. uh, who makes that argument about genes

no scientist I know. And I know quite a few.

[azul]

15. That's sort of my criticism too.

No mention of the probable epigenetic mechanisms being activated by the chemical and emotional exposures -to turn on and off the genes that thus cause the metabolic disruptions. He has some good ideas backed up by some evidence but is lacking the hard data that studies using the new tools to observe genetic controls could provide to totally make or break his case.

There are some huge business interests threatened by what he is attempting to say and prove. And many counter-productive laws that need revisiting that he is pointing out. He is speaking out with some evidence, and that is excellent for opening discussion and starting more studies.

And doing these studies would provide really good and worthwhile jobs, if the studies be not hijacked for nefarious purposes. We need real good jobs that have the possibility to really cure illness and so change the dismal financial projections for healthcare, and the future of prisons costs for that matter.

[roxiejules]

14. "Nothing records the effects of a sad life”......

"Nothing records the effects of a sad life” so completely as the human body —“so graphically as the human body.”

DR. GABOR MATÉ: The body has many ways of saying no: almost any symptom, a stomach ache, a back spasm, a headache, nausea, dry mouth, poor sleep, muscle tension. I’m talking about relatively minor symptoms. These are all ways of the body saying no. As of course are the more severe conditions, like psoriasis or ulcerative colitis, all the ones that I’ve already mentioned. These are all ways of the body saying no.

We need to, first of all, to say and pay attention to what the body is saying to us. So if we have a symptom, don’t just go to the doctor and say, “Take this symptom away from me”—yeah, ask for help—but also explore what the body is saying no to. Usually you’ll find that in your life you’ve taken on too much, you’re suppressing yourself, you’re trying to please others too much. You’re living life along patterns that don’t express who you really are. So the symptom or the disease ought to be not just something that you want to get rid of; it ought to be the beginning of an exploration and investigation of how you live your life and how you might possibly live your life differently, in a more healthy fashion.

[Kurovski]

25. I live near an oil refinery and two coal-fired power plants.

Boy oh boy, but my body sure as fuck says "no" to that every single day.

He sounds like a wee bit of a ding-bat...if I may say.

[lildreamer316]

18. This is a REALLY REALLY important article.

I'm over halfway through, and this is very important stuff. Very important, and very relevant to almost everything we're dealing with. To me, it even explains the Teabagger movement in part, and why some people do not have empathy.
Thank you so much for posting.

[rosesaylavee]

19. Agreed!

This is one of the most important things I have read in a long time. Got off my computer just now to tell my husband and it turns out he had just ordered the Hungry Ghosts book from our library.

Thanks for alerting me to this... much much food for thought here.

[lumberjack_jeff]

20. I don't think we're addicted to work. We want the sense of community that work has replaced.

We use work as a proxy for the lost community. It beats sitting alone in our suburban tract homes, 1000 miles from our hometowns.

[defendandprotect]

28. Agree with you -- and with the article -- think it's the boredom of this alleged "freedom" we have!!

Free to watch TV -- while nature disappears!!

[tblue37]

29. More like we are addicted to being able to afford a relatively comfortable middle class life, and as

our real wages decrease, we keep having to add part time jobs or more hours at the regular job to make ends meet. Also, our employers take advantage of the lousy job market to slash wages and benefits and increase our workload--because they can, and we are afraid to squawk, since there are five applicants (at least!) for every job.

[defendandprotect]

24. Thank you -- recommend everyone read the article --

These are the distortions we see with the rise of the right --

violence, sexual perversion -- abuse of children in every way --

and a population under immense stress.

[defendandprotect]

26. K/R

[defendandprotect]

27. K/R -- kick