Gabor Mate: The Myth of Normal

Dr. Gabor Mate is a Hungarian-born physician, living in Vancouver, B.C., who grew up and was educated in Canada.  He began the interview by addressing the ‘myth of normal’ that divides us into the normal and the abnormal with pathological traits. Dr. Mate mentions that he doesn’t see a division, but a continuum where mental distress, of some degree, is present in all of us.  He explains how mental distress and pathology are largely a result of a materialist culture that “idealizes individualism and ignores our emotional needs”.