Freedomain Radio

Dr Gabor Maté reveals the biological basis of addiction, and the insanity of the statist war on drugs.

http://www.drgabormate.com

Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1944, Gabor Maté emigrated to Canada with his family in 1957. After graduating with a B.A. from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and a few years as a high school English and literature teacher, he returned to school to pursue his childhood dream of being a doctor.

Dr. Maté ran a private family practice in East Vancouver for over twenty years. He was also the Medical Co-ordinator of the Palliative Care Unit at Vancouver Hospital for seven years.

Currently he is the staff physician at the Portland Hotel, a residence and resource centre for the people of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Many of his patients suffer from mental illness, drug addiction and HIV, or all three.

Dr. Maté has had regular medical columns in The Vancouver Sun and the national Globe and Mail.

Widely recognized for his unique perspective on Attention Deficit Disorder, and his firmly held belief in the connection between mind and body health, he is a sought-after speaker and seminar leader on these topics.

He is the author of four books -- When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress, and Scattered Minds: A New Look at the Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder. The third book, Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers, he co-authored with developmental psychologist Gordon Neufeld. Most recently published is In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction.

This interview is, in my opinion, one of the most productive and valuable you've done so far, Stef. I really can't express adequately how useful Dr. Mate's book has been to me in the short time I've been reading it. Thanks so much for being so responsive with your website users' demands!

Wow Stef that was fast! Thanks!

any time my friend

Maybe I don't understand what Gabor and Stef said, but based on what I got, I have some questions:

If we act the way we act based on our "programing", "hardware" and "inputs" (childhood traumas, earlier experiences etc.) and it's not our fault if we do something wrong, the same is for our parents and their parents, so isn't that determinism? It's a circle of violence, but no one's responsible. Where's morality, responsibility and free will in all of this?

I had some discussions with my brother about determinism lately and I really tried to understand the deterministic view of my brother, but couldn't get out of free will. So hearing this now, I'm even more confused.

I did a podcast on this, it might help...

http://www.freedomainradio.com/Traffic_Jams/FDR_1528_the_machine_of_evil.mp3

I have listened to this, also to the way earlier podcast where you talk about your struggle with this question and also about your mother, but I will listen to it again, because now it seems like a contradiction to me. Maybe someone can explain it to me like I'm retarded

Edit: I've relistened 1528 and it's more clear now, but the boarders of choice is still kind of vague: where the abuser really can't control their actions, impulses and "choices"(?) to improve in the future because it's determined based on his previous "programming", and where he's just acting evil by a real choice. So it's hard to calculate the real responsibility for one's actions.