Research Catalog

Title

In the realm of hungry ghosts : close encounters with addiction / Gabor Maté ; foreword by Peter Levine.

Author

Maté, Gabor

Publication

Berkeley, Calif. : North Atlantic Books, [2010]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Levine, Peter

Description

xviii, 495 pages : illustrations; 23 cm.

Summary

"...This insightful book explores the scientific and psychological causes of addiction, as well as the impact on the addicts treated at the Downtown Eastside Vancouver clinic where Mate is a physician. He widens the lens to address the larger societal problem--speaking also to the risks of more "high-status" addictions, such as wealth, power, and sex. He boldly challenges the War on Drugs, proposing a more holistic, constructive set of alternatives. A riveting, debate-provoking book about an illness that reaches all levels of society, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts provides a much-needed glimpse of hope from an innovator who is taking on addiction with startling clarity, vision, and wisdom"--Cover, p. 4.

Alternative Title

Close encounters with addiction

Subject

• Maté, Gabor
• Substance abuse > Vancouver
• Substance-Related Disorders > physiopathology
• Behavior, Addictive > physiopathology
• Behavior, Addictive > psychology

Genre/Form

Biographies

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

• Author's note -- Preface to the U.S. edition -- Foreword / by Peter Levine -- Hungry ghosts : the realm of addiction -- Pt. I : Hellbound train -- TheOnly home he's ever had -- TheLethal hold of drugs -- TheKeys of paradise : addiction as a flight from distress -- You wouldn't believe my life story -- Angela's grandfather -- Pregnancy journal -- Beethoven's birth room -- There's got to be some light -- Pt. II :Physician, heal thyself -- Takes one to know one -- Twelve-step journal : April 5, 2006 -- Pt. III : ADifferent state of the brain -- What is addiction? -- From Vietnam to "Rat Park" : do drugs cause addiction? -- ADifferent state of the brain -- Through a needle, a warm, soft hug.
• Cocaine, dopamine, and candy bars : the incentive system in addiction -- Like a child not released -- Pt. IV : How the addicted brain develops -- Their brains never had a chance -- Trauma, stress, and the biology of addiction -- It's not in the genes -- Pt. V : TheAddiction process and the addictive personality -- "AVoid I'll do anything to avoid" -- Too much time on external things : the addiction-prone personality -- Poor substitutes for love : behavioral addictions and their origins -- Pt. VI : Imagining a humane reality : beyond the war on drugs -- TheSocial roots of addiction -- Know thine enemy -- "Ignorant fanaticism" : the failed war on drugs.
• Freedom of choice and the choice of freedom -- Toward an enlightened social policy on drugs -- Reducing harm -- Pt. VII : TheEcology of healing -- ThePower of compassionate curiosity -- TheInternal climate -- TheFour steps, plus one -- Sobriety and the external milieu -- AWord to families, friends, and caregivers -- There is nothing lost : addiction and the spiritual quest -- Memories and miracles : an epilogue -- Postscript -- Appendices -- I : Fallacies of adoption and twin studies -- II : AClose link : attention deficit disorder and addictions -- III : ThePrevention of addiction -- IV : TheTwelve steps -- Endnotes -- Acknowledgments -- Permissions -- Index -- About the author.

ISBN

• 9781556438806
• 155643880X

LCCN

^^2009045057

OCLC

• 461256205
• SCSB-12534883

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library