Addiction & Recovery Special, Gabor Maté & David Fuller

Following on from David Fuller's recent very personal story about his relationship with his mother and her ongoing recovery from addiction: rebelwisdom.substack.com/p/an...
This was a special community session to talk about a topic that affects many people's lives.
The world's foremost expert on addiction, Gabor Maté kindly agreed to join this session, where we talked through the subject of addiction, and Rebel Wisdom Digital Campfire members had the opportunity to share their experience and ask questions to Gabor.

[@jamesfox1746]

I'm into my 36 year of sobriety... Gabor is a good personal to speak to on addiction .

[@BenQotsa]

I want to be where you are. My alcoholism ended me into prison.

[@mariamurmis4915]

Congratulations on those 36 years!

[@jamesfox1746]

@@mariamurmis4915 Thank you. Its been an exciting journey.

[@jjuniper274]

David, the last thing my father said to me was to take "care of mum" and my kids. When I read that your father said nearly the same thing, I was moved to tears. I had to stop reading for a second. My mother passed 2 years after dad. I did my best, and that's all you can do. You are so fortunate to still have your mum. She looks like a lovely woman, someone like me could easily call "friend." Thank you for sharing. ❤️

[@tomasstephen2728]

After listening to this I'm thinking about doing the 12 steps now time for change

[@philipgahan9649]

Gabor with his finger on the pulse as always, brilliant!

[@kristen_rose]

Thank you so much, David, for bringing a voice to this issue to destigmatize it. I found your channel in early recovery and it’s been so instrumental in my journey. Love to you, your mother, and everyone who shared. We need to share our stories. And thank you to Gabor Mate for seeing what addiction is truly about. This is 100% a trauma response. ♥️

[@maggen_me7790]

"We hook up with partners that is just as Shipwrecked as ourself", - That is truly a line to remember...and to reflect on.

[@Emceeloki]

Thank you Gabor and David for your work on this part of the meta-crisis of our time. One thing I feel strongly about is that the ego isn't something to be discarded, and none of the theorists who originated or innovated on the concept of ego argued it should be. In fact, people with childhood trauma need a strong part of themselves that can navigate a very real, and sometimes at minimum adversarial world, where an inability to confront malevolence and incompetence will have cycles of trauma simply continue in a person's life, because they will not be having their basic needs met and often will be predated upon. Too much of the discourse around trauma the minute spirituality comes up skips the problem of malevolence and begins to try to suppress the ego in a way that I can't help think is related to political ideology where ego is conflated with masculinity. The ego is not an innately negative construct.

[@johnmadany9829]

David, thank you so much for your work. Out of respect I read your sub stack article before going on with the video. It is interesting how I listen to someone’s request who I have never met and who does not know me. Tears in my eyes. Now back to Rebel Wisdom.

[@jjuniper274]

Gabor needs to be just as popular and mainstream as JBP. Maybe more so. thank you.

[@reanolan]

A beautiful testament to courage and love, of which we don't see enough in the commons. Thank you.

[@fumiemunro1740]

Wonderful piece. Wholeheartedly human piece. Bond is what keep us alive.

[@LobstaMunkyChad]

There was a real power in Alcohol it was in fact seemingly a solution. It was a power greater than myself. It enabled connection in my life. Or at least the illusion of it. And my failure to manage it, turned out to be a catalyst, my greatest gift.

[@CoachConstance]

💌 thank you David for your honesty and vulnerability on this topic. Gabor Mate is a gift to the world. So bummed I missed the campfire. Thank you for posting. 🙏 ~CC

[@trentp151]

Gabor is right, trauma is a leading cause of addiction, and not being able to talk about the trauma to loved ones (or to anyone) is a type of stress that is shoved down into the subconscious/unconscious; the place where restless, irritable and discontent come from... It is difficult to vent trauma, but that's a large part of what the AA groups were meant to address. Problem is that everyone sitting around in a circle of addicts talking about trauma and drug use often leads to relapse, I believe, because when the trauma is released, there needs to be a fundamentally solid place for those words to go, resulting in some kind of psychologically rooted feedback from whoever is listening.... But don't get me wrong, banding together in sobriety is absolutely better than marooning yourself.

[@EnemyOfEldar]

Wanna thank the brave folks that shared parts of their lives. I think addiciton is the only mode of human behaviour. I don't even know if we get a choice on what those addictions are.

[@SensemakingNL]

Thanks for bringing yourself and adding territory to the map. This brings important depth to the session

[@martingifford5415]

A crucial omission in this conversation is the context in which addiction, trauma, and suffering occur. The troubles are not happening in an abstract realm. They are happening on this planet and in our society. In other words, the natural context and the human context are the ultimate causes of the disconnection from self. We are gradually reducing nature-caused suffering, but we are yet to properly address the human-caused suffering. Essentially, society distracts us away from our true selves by saying that human beings are faulty. Everyone suffers from this. Even supposedly non-addicted people are actually addicted to a sense of control about maintaining or progressing their circumstance in reaction to the belief that they are faulty. If we want to accelerate the discussion and healing, we need to include the social context in which, and from which, the problem arises. Like in the TV series Lost, humankind needs to deeply come to terms with its circumstance.

[@jordanthornton]

I work with addicted and traumatised individuals on a weekly basis, and it's so wonderful to see how these kinds of conversations are blossoming around the world via the internet. Healing 'the roots'... changes 'the fruits'. It's such a simple concept, and yet the full embracing of this truth would radically transform how we deal with individual and collective pain. I likewise look forward to that possibility. Thank you for sharing this powerful conversation.

[@liammccann8763]

Fascinating discussion. I found the comments relating to the 12 steps very insightful. One small but vital observation about the first step is that it is written in the past tense; 'we were powerless', it does not state we 'are' powerless. Ne timeas.

[@jarijansma2207]

Very interesting dynamic: i opened this video instantaneously and reflexively, as gabor mate and rebel wisdom are two voices that helped my recovery, but when he talked about his definition of addiction, i realized i was feeding an addicted state, to information and the idea of "if i have the perfect little golden nugget of truth, THEN ill be fine" While actually, I'd rather listen to some music, or Matt Kahn. Hihi Love you guys and keep up the great work as always.

[@shooshoojoon4]

Great work!

[@watershedbarbie9685]

Doesn't mean you are powerless. You are powerless against your addiction.

[@MrSuperjoey8]

Super!

[@elusion23one41]

Great piece .

[@tomasr64]

At the 7:30 mark or so he says that the ego develops in our childhood "our desperation to be in charge" formed the ego and [it] wants to bend us and hurt us. Yes true, but I used my ego to climb up mountains and run fast and have fun. It wasn't denial. I fought a little with other kids but mostly learned to stay out of the way and I broke my own bones with skateboards and bikes. . Everyone gets hit and we fall down. But its good that Gabor is pointing out another aspect of ego. I like what Duncan Trussel said about ego. Its the burned ash of our actions both good and bad. Sometimes it hurts like a mfr.

[@jordanedgeley6601]

Very nice piece

[@truthteller4841]

İ was abused by an addict, leaving me lifelong permanent damage. İ have zero compassion towards addicts, at least the ones who resort to addiction to destroy, manipulate, abuse, exploit, power over others. I think his compassionate theroy on addictions denies pains of people who were perpeated by abusers. Insane amount of abuse exploitation takes place in spiritual reservoir of people who were perpetuated by addicts.

[@EnemyOfEldar]

Wouldn't it be better to say trauma causes a fracturing of self? Isn't it still a part of self that creates the complex that leads to addiction in order to protect itself? Doesn't help come from integrating the scared boy/girl that was hurt all those years ago? Or am I way off?

[@googlemechuck4217]

Makes me wonder what childhood tension i was attempting to solve when i started smoking Newports in high school

[@Daneiladams555]

The 12 steps are a cult I did it and left and I would never go back

[@jeeed6390]

For those of us unable to take time to stop and read, would you consider record yourself reading your substack article and then post it? Pretty please.

[@charitychampagne9386]

will this be added to spotify as well?

[@joebanuelos5614]

Is this guy related to the great Aaron Mate?

[@SensemakingMartin]

It's 2am lol wtf

[@numberswithmeaning]

What better time for addicts to be up at?

[@MonaMarMag]

Wszyscy jesteśmy częścią Boga - Wszechświata - czyli wszyscy jesteśmy dziećmi jednego Boga . Problem polega na tym , że niektórym ludziom mylnie wydaje się , że są Bogiem i mają prawo narzucać swoją wolę innym ludziom . To świadczy o problemie tego typu ludzi z ich chorym destrukcyjnym ego . Wynikiem chorego ego byli ludzie typu : Neron , Hitler, Stalin , Ted Bundy i wielu innych ludzi na przestrzeni wieków .

[@joolsjeffery3939]

Gabor has a lot of sensible things to say about addiction. However he has sold himself through his own fear and trauma by saying that if you don’t get the experimental injection, it’s a sign of trauma. Sorry. It’s a sign of trauma programming through fear to get it. I think his fear and ego have got the better of him. Shame.