The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture

According to Maté, attachment is one of the most essential human needs: to be connected to other people. In childhood, the primary attachment relationship is with the parents.

The second fundamental human need, alongside attachment. Authenticity in The Myth of Normal refers to the need and drive to give full expression to one’s feelings.

A type of disease in which the body’s immune defenses attack the body’s own normal cells. Examples include Crohn’s disease and multiple sclerosis.

Plant-based psychedelic used in traditional shamanic rituals and ceremonies. Can cause hallucinations and affect one's sense of time.

An approach to medicine that explores the connections between biology, psychology, and social factors to understand disease and health.

A term used by Maté to emphasize the essential interconnectedness of the body and mind and to contrast this idea with the separateness with which mind and body are often treated in Western medicine.

The social and economic system based upon private ownership of the means of production and the accumulation of capital by individuals and firms. The dominant mode of social organization in the Western world since the 19th century.

A therapeutic approach developed by Maté that attempts to heal patients by trying to uncover the childhood and life trauma that lies behind a current illness.

Contrasted in The Myth of Normal with healing, to be cured means to be relieved of all the symptoms of a disease. It does not necessarily mean achieving a healthier outlook on oneself or the world or resolving underlying traumas.

A facet of capitalism since the 1950s and 60s. Consumerism is the phenomenon and ideology of a society centered on or significantly influenced by the mass consumption of goods and services over and above what is needed to satisfy basic human needs.

As used by Maté, and in contrast to curing, healing implies a process of self-understanding and realization in which different elements of the self are reunited into a coherent whole. Just as being cured does not necessarily imply being healed, so one can be healed without necessarily being cured in the sense of being free of symptoms.

The application of research in neuroscience to the development and promotion of products.

The study of how illness and disease arise from social and environmental factors.

Miniscule DNA structures at the end of chromosomes. Telomeres are influenced by environmental factors, especially trauma, and affect life expectancy and the occurrence of disease.