Dr Gabor Maté is a specialist in terminal illnesses, chemical dependents, and HIV positive patients. Dr. Maté is a renowned author of books and a columnist known for his knowledge about attention deficit disorder, stress, chronic illness, and parental relations.
He has worked with drug addiction in Vancouver for over 30 years. Dr Maté believes the cause of addiction is pain. Pain stems from traumas in our childhood. Pain that addicts try to escape from today.
Even when addiction can take everything from a person—youth, physical health, wealth, families, their lives—some still won’t give up the addiction. Matè explores the power that addiction wields in his TED talk.
In discussing the lengths of addiction— from drugs to power— from the lack of love to the desire to escape oneself, from the susceptibility of the being to interior power, it’s clear that nothing escapes.
He says we should talk more about the power of addiction. Why do we get addicted in the first place? There must be some advantages with addiction, the body chose to become addicted for a reason. Addiction is a painkiller. It helps the body deal with pain, or at least escape the pain for some time.
To handle addiction we need to understand where the pain comes from and treat that. If you can do that, you can also cure addiction.
Here is a second interview made by BBC:
