Dr. Gabor Mate

Dr. Gabor Mate, a Canadian physician, author, and speaker, is recognized for his insights into the profound connections between childhood development, trauma, and their long-term effects on physical and mental health, including addiction and ADHD. After obtaining his M.D. in general family practice from the University of British Columbia in 1977, Dr.

Maté served as a staff physician at the Portland Hotel Society in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, a supportive housing non-profit. During this tenure, he specialized in working with patients experiencing co-occurring mental health and substance use issues, often alongside chronic health conditions. He was instrumental in developing harm reduction and housing-first initiatives, including needle exchange and supervised injection programs. These experiences profoundly influenced his seminal work, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction, published in 2008, for which he received the Hubert Evans Prize for Literary Non-Fiction in 2009.

Building on his clinical foundation, Dr. Maté authored multiple influential books exploring diverse subjects. His first book, Scattered Minds: the origins and healing of attention deficit disorder, was published in 1999, followed by When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress in 2003. In 2004, he co-authored Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers with Dr.

Gordon Neufeld. His work consistently highlights the role of biopsychosocial factors and psychological trauma in health outcomes, advocating for a compassionate understanding of addiction. Dr. Maté also developed the ‘Compassionate Inquiry’ psychotherapeutic method, designed to uncover hidden assumptions and implicit memories that influence behavior, a testament to his comprehensive approach to healing.

As a renowned speaker, Dr. Maté continues to deliver insights globally, emphasizing the interconnectedness of mind, body, and environment, and the importance of relationships in healing.