As part of the Reader merit badge for the Rebel Badge Club, I am to write a review of a book for one of the clauses. I have chosen to write about The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté and Daniel Maté. This is a long and very interesting book which I chose as I have an interest in mental health and physical health.
I was first introduced to the work of Dr Gabor Maté on Dr Rangan Chatterjee's Feel Better, Live More podcast. Maté is an expert in trauma, addiction, stress and childhood development. The Myth of Normal explains how modern living is contributing to the rise of ill health. Trauma, stress and life experiences affect our physical health aswell as our mental health. To put it simply, a suffering mind takes it's toll on the body. For example, in his book Maté observes that people who suffer from the neurological disease ALS are people who are too nice.
There are a lot of thought provoking matters in this book and many of which most of us will be able to relate to in our own lives. Maté states that women who have endometriosis have normally experienced physical or emotional trauma in their life usually in childhood. I myself a victim of sibling bullying was diagnosed with mild endometriosis when I was 19. As a child I kept things to myself as my parents were often highly stressed and I didn't want to add to their problems. Maté tells us that suppressed emotions have a great impact on physical health.
This book is eye opening and a lot to take in. I listened to the audiobook rather than reading a hardcopy and feel I will have to slowly listen to it again, one chapter at a time. I was afraid my health was ill-fated initially as I was listening to this book but Maté explains that healing is possible.
I highly recommend the book to anyone who wants to gain a greater understanding of themselves and the world around them. We are all shaped by the conditions we live in and the individual experiences which we are exposed to.
For me, the biggest lesson I have learnt from this book is to stop suppressing how I am really feeling and to be more honest and open.
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