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In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction [IMPORT] (Hardcover)

~ Gabor Mate M.D. (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

He would probably dispute it, but Gabor Maté is something of a compassion machine. Diligently treating the drug addicts of Vancouver's notorious Downtown Eastside with sympathy in his heart and legislative reform in mind can't be easy. But Maté never judges. His book is a powerful call-to-arms, both for the decriminalization of drugs and for a more sympathetic and informed view of addiction. As Maté observes, "Those whom we dismiss as 'junkies' are not creatures from a different world, only men and women mired at the extreme end of a continuum on which, here or there, all of us might well locate ourselves." In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts begins by introducing us to many of Dr. Maté's most dire patients who steal, cheat, sell sex, and otherwise harm themselves for their next hit. Maté looks to the root causes of addiction, applying a clinical and psychological view to the physical manifestation and offering some enlightening answers for why people inflict such c! atastrophe on themselves.

Finally, he takes aim at the hugely ineffectual, largely U.S.-led War on Drugs (and its worldwide followers), challenging the wisdom of fighting drugs instead of aiding the addicts, and showing how controversial measures such as safe injection sites are measurably more successful at reducing drug-related crime and the spread of disease than anything most major governments have going. It's not easy reading, but we ignore his arguments at our peril. When it comes to combating the drug trade and the ravages of addiction, society can use all the help it can get. --Kim Hughes



Review

Praise for Hold on to Your Kids:

“Maté has expressed [Neufeld’s] ideas in precise and hard-hitting prose that makes complex ideas accessible without dumbing them down. The result is a book that grabs hard.”
—Edmonton Journal

Praise for When the Body Says No:
“When Maté witnesses and testifies to human suffering, including his own, he is compassionate and compelling.”
—The Globe and Mail

“Written with clarity and compassion. . . . The book’s characteristics seem to describe Maté himself: armed with knowledge and straight from the heart.”
—Georgia Straight

“[An] enthralling exploration. . . . Maté probes deeply into the life histories and psyches of [his] many patients. . . . What emerges is nothing short of a revelation.”
—Edmonton Journal
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 480 pages
  • Publisher: Knopf Canada (February 12, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0676977405
  • ISBN-13: 978-0676977400
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.7 x 1.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,405,459 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Gabor Maté
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4.2 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Not the Reader's Digest take on Addiction!!, August 15, 2009
By Van Isle Rev (Vancouver Island, British Columbia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction (Paperback)
Those who are looking for a brief look at addiction ought to look elsewhere; whatever else can be said about Gabor Mate's In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, it represents a lengthy, multi-faceted look at the reality of addiction.

Mate is a Canadian physician who practices medicine in one of Canada's poorest and most socially challenged neighbourhoods: Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Drawing upon his years of experience working with addicts, as well as his expertise in the fields of stress management and attention deficit disorder, Mate has produced a book that capably examines addiction from a wide variety of vantage points.

That having been said, it is only fair to acknowledge that I, for one, was not equally enamoured of the book's every section. Mate is at his strongest as a narrator; I was truly gripped by the lengthy sections of the book in which Mate is content simply to share the experiences--the oftentimes harrowing experiences--of the clients with whom he works. I was equally impressed with his refreshingly accessible account of the implications of new discoveries in the field of brain science, as scientists try to explain the processes that create and perpetuate addiction.. In addition, the book's final section--on "the ecology of healing"-- contained some genuinely fresh insights and some genuinely practical suggestions. These sections most certainly justify the book's purchase.

I found other sections of the book less satisfactory. Although I share Mate's antipathy toward the "war on drugs", I found his own policy prescriptions less than fully convincing. (Then again, I'm glad to have had an opportunity to grapple with his recommendations). Although his willingness to speak frankly of his own addictive tendencies (he's a classical music junkie) are a sign of Mate's humility, by book's end that aspect of Hungry Ghosts had begun to wear a little thin; try as I might, I struggled to place Mate's addiction to classical CDs in the same category as his accounts of the life-threatening substance addictions with which his patients struggle. Finally, while eager to affirm Mate's recognition that there is a spiritual dimension both to addiction and to the process of healing from addiction, I found Mate's discussions of spirituality a wee bit thin, and the affirmation of hope with which the book concluded somewhat less than convincing.

Those criticisms notwithstanding, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, is a valuable book: one that will repay the time and energy of anyone looking for a deeper insight into the haunted world of addiction.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Very informative, July 9, 2009
This review is from: In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction (Paperback)
This book offers terrific insights into addiction. I was also impressed by the authors honesty and compassion towards addicts. It has helped me be less judgmental towards folks that are caught up in this sad circle of existence. The author has an amusing & engaging writing style as well.
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5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling portrait of addiction, its people and its consequences to society, December 9, 2009
By L. Jonsson (Charleston, SC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
This review is from: In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
An addiction to a drug or to alcohol is a disease. It is progressive and fatal if left untreated. People who are addicts/alcoholics tend to die younger and tend to experience a lot more problems along the way. How do I know this? I have worked in the addiction profession as a counselor for over 14 years, and I have seen it all. Now that I have introduced myself and said a little about the nature of addiction, let me talk about the book I am reviewing.

Dr. Mate draws on his two decades of experience to write a portrait of Vancouver Canada's Downtown Eastside clinic which treats people with a variety of addictions. He discusses the personal life of the people he treats as well. Mate also shares the story of his addiction to shopping for classical music CDs, which I appreciate his honesty in owning up to his own addictive behavior. He also discusses other addictions that he has seen in people (and in himself) to shopping, money, power and sex. Anything can be addictive if we do too much of it and it causes havoc in our lives.

This book also attempts to answer some of the most baffling parts of addiction. Questions such as what are the causes of addiction/alcoholism, is there an addiction prone personality, relapses and what causes them, and what happens physiologically to the brain of an addicted person are all discussed here. Mate points out (and this is something I have noticed for years) that research has confirmed that physical, sexual, emotional or psychological abuse contributes to addiction. It was nice to read the research to confirm what I have thought for years.

This book is very readable, and a person who has no knowledge of addictions can benefit a great deal. A person like me who works in the profession (and is anticipating socialized health care in America as well as the Mental Health Parity law which asks insurers to cover addictions which comes into play in 2010) can also be informed. This book might also provide education to the families of those people who are addicted, a family member might be better able to emphasize with a loved one struggling with addiction after reading this book. Mate's honest account of addiction and all the problems it causes society is a riveting read that you will not be able to put down.
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