“Micro-Activity #13: Drafting the Annotations”

Carolyn Gregoire. (January 26, 2016 Tuesday). Why This Doctor Believes Addictions Start In Childhood. The Huffington Post. https://advance-lexis-com.citytech.ezproxy.cuny.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:5HY4-GJS1-F03R-N2H8-00000-00&context=1516831.

In this interview, the author Carolyn Gregoire talks to Dr. Gabor Maté about his work with patients with addiction. Dr. Gabor Maté is a Hungarian-Canadian physician who has been working with family practice and has a special interest in childhood trauma and the lifelong mental and physical impact on people. He has over 50 years of experience and explains the correlation between childhood trauma and addiction. Addictions are not limited to a substance abuse disorder but emcompasses a wide range of behaviors like gambling, sex addiction, phone addiction, shopping, exercise and work to name a few. Dr. Gabor Maté goes on to explain that “addiction is any behavior where a person craves and finds temporary pleasure or relief in something, but suffers negative consequences as a result of and is unable to give up despite those negative consequences”. Dr. Gabor Maté explains in this interview that childhood trauma is the single factor that causes all addictions and a person engaging in an addictive behavior usually arises from a deeply rooted desire to numb or make up for such a traumatic experience. An addiction is most often the way a person subconsciously finds to create a feeling of control over these negative memories. He goes on to explain that addiction is not the problem but it is the symptoms of a person who experiences some kind of traumatic experience during childhood. He also talks about new research on ways of treating childhood traumas with psychedelics drugs like ayahuasca and psychedelic mushrooms in a clinical setting. These researches have been promising in treating soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome(PTSD), depression, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders and anxiety.

I found this interview extremely important when studying about the roots of addiction, either by the use of a substance or by engaging in a compulsive behavior that brings negative consequences into a person’s life. I have always been curious as to why certain people are affected by substance abuse disorder and are unable to stop the intake of mind altering substances like alcohol, cigarettes, prescription medication as well as illegal drugs. And such people are often labelled as losers, weak, criminals, crazy, poor, lazy or even uneducated but once I started researching about the topic and discovered that on the past decade the research into the reach of the opioid epidemic has shown to affect people of all ages, economic status, geographic locations, sex, education levels and races. This seems to be easily answered by the fact that opioids are very addictive and our brains are wired with opioids receptors which makes the effect of this drug unique to the effect of other drugs, however, Dr. Gabor Maté goes on to explain that an important factor that could determine if a person has the susceptibility to become an addict is directly correlated with the negative experiences a person has had in childhood. With my research I intended to answer the question of why some people are affected by addiction while others are not and I was able to understand the role that childhood trauma has on a person’s future life decisions and outcomes. I believe that if childhood trauma is addressed early in a person’s life the potential of a positive outcome in the person’s future life decisions is greatly increased and it allows for an educated way of predicting future behavior. If I could say something to Dr. Gabor Maté I would give thanks and also tell him that I have witnessed people with substance abuse around me since I could question it  and I was always warned by my parents about the consequences of the use of illicit drugs. However, when I wondered about alcohol and its many negative effects I was always told that if it was legal it was not that big of a problem. Even though I was able to witness the behavior of different people around me, from neighbors, family members, friends and some of their family members, while inebriated it always intrigued me that the illegal drugs were worse and why were some people known as having a “problem” if alcohol was all they used? If it is legal, it should not be that bad, right? This curiosity also made me interested in knowing more about the subject of addiction and ways I could be able to help people. I agree with the information Dr. Gabor Maté shares in this interview because it confirms some of the intuition I already had about the subject. 

“A hurt is at the center of all addictive behaviors. It is present in the gambler, the Internet addict, the compulsive shopper and the workaholic. The wound may not be as deep and the ache not as excruciating, and it may even be entirely hidden — but it’s there.”(Maté, 2)

Dr. Gabor Maté extensive research and experience over the decades has made for a trustable source on the subject of childhood trauma, addiction and its form. He was able to answer some of my questions about the subject as well as help me deepen my understanding about addiction. He was able to answer my question about whether there might be another factor in which to determine the susceptibility of people who will be challenged by substance abuse disorder in the future and the best way to minimize its effects is to work through problems one might not be able to express clearly without some kind of therapy. And I believe research will be able to answer even more questions and help society once the use of psychedelic drugs are allowed for scientific purposes on a federal level as well as around the world. Society has a lot to benefit once we are able to address and treat people suffering from such devastating behaviors. The drug or the behavior is not the problem, but its symptoms.