Harry and Gabor

[laurwalsh]

My friend just sent me this. I adore Gabor mate and the work he does. His book 'in the realms of hungry ghosts' was life changing for me who had suffered serious addiction issues. But am I being too harsh to feel disappointed he's jumping on this band wagon of garbage. I'm sorry but Harry we're sick of listening to your trauma and no offence you've sung it to death, (and I don't even think it's that bad relative to how much he has gone on and on about it) and trauma aside you're a complete hypocrite with how you've treated you're family and the trauma you've put them through!!

Looks as though the fee was $33 and a copy of the book was included in that:

Viewers Can Pay $33.09 to Watch Prince Harry Talk to Trauma Expert (rollingstone.com)

People pay fees for speakers every day, this is similar. The book was included in the fee. Nobody was forced to do it, like we are with funding the royals. This is a non story.

A lot of people don’t believe it’s a non story.

Nobody was forced to do it, like we are with funding the royals

Quite right, Iwantcakeeveryday; however it's perhaps not so much about people being forced as whether it was wise to do it at all

And while of course it got attention because it was Harry, I'm not even thinking of him here but Mate. As any number of posts show I'm no fan of armchair diagnosis - or of those who advocate illegal drug use, come to that - and frankly I'd have expected better from a so-called professional

Still, his choice and all that, and his consequences to take

Mate is not a random self help guy. He was a physician who worked first in Palliative care then he worked for decades as a family physician in the trenches of Vancouver's homeless and addicted population, and during the HIV crisis. He experienced significant trauma himself as a young child due being born during the war / his grandparents were killed in Auschwitz and he emigrated to Canada at age 12. His views were that most addiction and many other conditions (ADHD, autoimmune disorders) were the result of severe stress and trauma on the body and mind. His minimization of genetic and 'nature' put him at odds sometimes with the academic community but he was just very focused on trauma and the impacts of trauma on the developing brain and on the body. He is now 80 and retured but still very passionate about trauma.

Nobody was forced to do it, like we are with funding the royals.

This is true but it's just odd and intriguing that Mate is drawing attention to an interview that occurred some months ago and which had until now faded somewhat from the public consciousness.

Still, his choice and all that, and his consequences to take

Indeed.