The Rich Roll Podcast

What if everything you presuppose about addiction is wrong? Enter Gabor Maté. World renowned lecturer, physician and bestselling author, today's guest is a highly distinguished, in demand and at times controversial authority with a wealth of expertise on a range of topics that span addiction, stress and childhood development. With over twelve years of first hand experience working up close and personal on Vancouver's skid row with patients severely challenged by hard core drug addictions, mental illness and HIV, Dr. Maté has cultivated a powerful yet eminently commonsensical perspective on this devastating affliction that contravenes conventional medical dogma. A perspective that begins with a single edict: Addiction is not a choice. Moreover, addiction has little to do with illicit substances. It's just not about drugs. Or gambling, or shopping, or porn or whatever behavior happens to, in the words of Dr. Maté, incinerate the lives of millions. Instead, addiction is about the emotional pain behind the behavi