Mentalhealth

Gabor Maté is someone I’ve heard about occasionally over the years, probably for the first time when I read Bessel van der Kolk’s “The Body Keeps the Score,” which I’m pretty sure mentions him. I’ve never looked closely into his writing or speaking. His name was mentioned to me in therapy recently and like any good student I bought a book and went to reading. The book was published in 2003, so parts of it do feel a bit dated. GM introduces the term biopsychosocial in this text as though it is a new thing, and possibly it would be for the lay reader. As a social worker, it’s a term I’ve heard and practiced around for years. Much of GM’s theory on stress—disease connection would feel comfortable in the social work practice, I think. Many of the stories within feel familiar to experiences from my life, and the logic of it generally tracks for me. ...