The Wisdom of Trauma: Dr. Gabor Mate (film)

Dr. Gabor Mate, Stephanie Lee (drgabormate.com/blog); Seth Auberon (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

There's a way back from addiction.

Back in April of 2021, addiction medicine specialist Dr. Gabor Mate, M.D., announced the release of the documentary The Wisdom of Trauma.

It had been four years in the making by directors and producers Maurizio and Zaya Benazzo from Science and Nonduality (SAND). The film was rebroadcast in the summer of 2021, accompanied by conversations.

Synopsis

The Wisdom of Trauma

One in five Americans are diagnosed with mental illness in any given year. Suicide is the second most common cause of death in the US for youth aged 15-24. It kills over 800,000 people a year globally and 48,300 in the US.

Drug overdoses kill 81,000 in the US annually. An autoimmunity epidemic affects 24 million people in the US.

So the filmmakers ask the question, “What's going on?”

The Realm of Hungry Ghosts?

The interconnected epidemics of [stress and poor coping mechanisms,] anxiety, chronic illness, and substance abuse are, according to Dr. Maté, normal but not in the way we might think.

In The Wisdom of Trauma, we travel alongside physician, bestselling author, and Order of Canada recipient Dr. Maté to explore why Western society is facing such epidemics.

This is a journey with a man who has dedicated his life to understanding the connection between illness, addiction, [childhood] trauma, and society.

Trauma is the invisible force that shapes our lives. It shapes the way we live, the way we love, and the way we make sense of the world. It is the root of our deepest wounds.

Stay connected with Dr. Mate via website

Dr. Maté gives us a new vision: a trauma-informed society in which parents, teachers, physicians, policymakers, and legal personnel are not concerned with "fixing" behaviors, making diagnoses, suppressing symptoms, and judging, but seek instead to understand the sources from which troubling behaviors and diseases spring in the wounded human psyche.

He points us to the path of individual and collective healing. More

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