What's The #1 Way To Recover From Addiction? | Dr. Gabor Maté

In this short clip with Dr. Gabor Maté he reveals why so many people are struggling with addiction, the best way to recover from addiction, his thoughts on traditional recovery programs and more.
Watch the full convo with Dr. Gabor Maté: • THIS Is Why You FEEL L...
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Please be advised; the topics related to mental health in my content are for informational, discussion, and entertainment purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your mental health professional or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding your current condition. Never disregard professional advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard from your favorite creator, on social media, or shared within content you’ve consumed.
If you are in crisis or you think you may have an emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately.
If you do not have a health professional who is able to assist you, use these resources to find help:
Emergency Medical Services-911
If the situation is potentially life-threatening, get immediate emergency assistance by calling 911, available 24 hours a day.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
SAMHSA addiction and mental health treatment Referral Helpline, 1-877-SAMHSA7 (1-877-726-4727) and www.samhsa.gov

[@rosewelsh6687]

Feeling pain in recovery? It shows your healing and moving forward. Feel it, not numb it.

[@yoursugarismine]

Easy to say. It’s hard to overcome the triggers of dealing with pain. It takes a long time to heal. I stay sober for long periods but not long enough to make the definitive change. Also once you stop using, dopamine and serotonin are screwed up, and the depression is very heavy maybe more so than a person that is depressed but have no addiction. And this doesn’t take a couple months to resolve but longer and it’s difficult to get there. Most of the time ppl that don’t have addictions cannot truly understand and it’s normal

[@gaiacielo5090]

Yeah exactly easy to say! If you had really much physical pain it’s not easy not is psychological pain but you can at least do it! 😮

[@yoursugarismine]

@@_TB808 I appreciate your words and the fact you took the time to reply to my comment. I’m in a bad place at moment..I know it’ll get better bc I don’t give up but I want to just feel ok…I’m very aware of my inner struggles but just can’t heal sometimes and sometimes I heal but it doesn’t last.

[@createone100]

‘We have social conditions that breed trauma in every level’. Gabor nailed it, as usual!

[@davidstair9657]

I am healing! Bit by bit!! My family decided to stay with me throughout my recovery!

[@rosewelsh6687]

People are not looking inwards, lot find it painful. So they just carry on, with the addiction. They think it's the easier way. I've been clean for thirty years. I've been in extreme pain and suffered depression. I would rather feel, it than numb it.

[@damianjones6546]

Thanks for the hope! I really need to stop drinking alcohol, it's ruining my life. To hear that addictions can be a great teacher gives me a lot of hope for the future.

[@danny.96]

I’m with you in trying to get sober.

[@damianjones6546]

@@danny.96 how you doing with getting sober?

[@Buster-im5so]

I just quit alcohol within the past 6 months. I realize what triggers my will to drink. I don't go to meetings, but set my goal is to adapt a secure attachment style. I went to a couple of meetings and didn't stand up to identify with 'being an alcoholic'. Forever? No way.

[@dverygrateful1]

Great choice

[@JuhaJones1965]

I got thrown out of AA-Meeting yesterday, because the friend I was with, was fucked up... I wasn't fully sober myself, (weed) (speed) but I feel like shit now... 😪😢

[@JuhaJones1965]

Now I feel like I wan't to go drinking... I've been sokeri from alchol for 2.5 years...

[@commontouch1787]

Healthy anger (not rage/agressive) / Agency (we’re in charge of our life, i take the advices but I’m making the decisions) / authenticity / awareness (mindful awareness, what arises in our mind) / curiosity towards oneself (let go of ideas that don’t serve us anymore) …

[@rosewelsh6687]

Sometimes, some trama is hidden in the subconscious. It's to dangerous to feel. Therapy cost a bomb to. But I'm clean, and feeling my spirit.

[@freeman37]

Dr. Maté is a true gentleman and healer. Protect this man at all costs!

[@patjackson1775]

Identifying as helpless and an addict is wrong. Thanks for helping us Al. All types of additions.

[@JIMKATSANIDIS]

Awesome video Doug and Dr. Gabor! Recovery from addiction is a complex process and what works best can vary from person to person. These strategies can help you: 1. Acknowledge the problem, recognize and accept that you have an addiction. 2. Build a support system by surrounding yourself with a strong support network of family, friends, or support groups. 3. Modify your environment avoiding certain people, places, or situations associated with substance use. 4. Seek professional help.👋❤

[@patjackson1775]

I totally agree that step one is terrifying defeating. I love all the other steps and AA traditions etc.

[@chasselynch5733]

Wow this is the greatest piece of information I have ever come across in my entire life,this doctor HAS IT FIGURED OUT

[@lisacrawford9550]

Totally agree with you Dr. Mate

[@gregorfaust819]

Awesome! Thank you gentlemen.

[@Karinesrecipe]

I'm a woman in sustained recovery from pharmacuticals. SMART recovery is helpful and talk therapy is essential for my maintenance.

[@WilliamJohnson-cg6tz]

It's no wonder recovery is so difficult. If someone is going down the path of recovery with the ostensible goal of recovering themselves, but the reason they've taken substances is because they don't like themselves, then the journey to recovering a person that they don't like or don't consider worthy of recovering seems to be an exercise in futility at best, or even a poor choice, a morally wrong choice at worst from the perspective of the people in recovery. The underlying issue in any self-neglect/self-harm paradigm seems to be "I am not worthy of better." So how do you convince someone that they have greater worth than they believe they do when they so ardently defend their position of unworthiness and, quite frankly, have significant evidence to support that belief that's been consistently reinforced throughout their life? It seems to me that attempting to win that battle against people who likely believe they are experts in their own respective lives, battling against the Dunning-Kruger effect, and people's inherent resistance to changing their minds once made up should be a central focus in their recovery.

[@grawakendream8980]

connection. but not just people, the nature of the contact is everythin

[@SandraLevine-xf9fq]

AA has millions of recovered people and a much greater success rate of 5 percent The gentleman who bashed it has only shown his own ignorance and closed mindedness I don’t profess to say AA is the only avenue to recovery but after 38 wonderful years of sobriety it healed me and saved my life

[@lisao6928]

It's probably closer to 8%. For everyone it has helped, there are far more it hasn't helped. There are 7 billion people on the planet. I am glad it worked for you, though. That's awesome!

[@matthewlenzmeier9859]

Congratulations on 38 years! Question how do you see people in AA treat people who leave the community but remain sober?

[@TheJimbo1791]

@@matthewlenzmeier9859 I think you got the answer. This is the issue in AA, they treat people often as if they are dry-drunk then. So - it is a cult, of course it is - that is why it works! But very tough if you leave. This is because of fear.

[@johannalehtinen9256]

Thanks for a great talk! I want to add about AA that you’re not obliged to say that you’re an addict even it’s accustom. The only requirement is to want to stop drinking. The purpose is what Gabor first described. To step out of the denial. And I’d dare to claim that after u get some recovery u don’t really identify with it, it’s more like destigmatize it for the newcomers.

[@SAMEntalhealth]

Another thing that is really sad is in this new world, doctors Overlook the root cause of a lot of people's issues. For instance adhd, and adults especially, can cause suicidal depression and a lot of other issues that make them not able to function properly. So they are refused to treatment especially if they are recovering addicts from another substance such as opiates. And panic attacks, a lot of if not almost all recovering addicts, like myself had panic disorder since I was nine. I'm 32 and started using opiates at like 26, been clean for a while now but the point is, I can't get the right help for those issues that the underlying reasons that I would use. But they had no problem prescribing them to children in school to get straight a's, as an adult it's not good because what are you going to do suffer from ADHD and panic attacks without being treated properly? Antidepressants and therapy can work to an extent but sometimes some people's brains are wired to an extent that there really is no logical reasoning or therapist that can just talk the ADHD out of you or the panic attacks. Genetic and it happens but you cannot live every day with panic attacks you can damage your heart you can do a lot of damage to yourself and cause more trauma. Like benzodiazepines yes there are people that abused them and yes they may need a long taper, but if they have them, then at least they know is a safety blanket there's something there to stop the panic attacks which might actually make them not want to take them as much. But there are so many humans on Earth you cannot say that every person is the same and will abused all the medications given to them. Sometimes those medications are not their drug of choice that they were addicted to but stop the triggers that made them use in the first place. It's very complex and because of all of the abusers of certain medications, it makes it hard for people like even myself to get treated properly. I mean I'm 32 years old and I can't even leave the house but yet I'm clean it's the craziest thing I don't crave opiates or anything anymore, but my ADHD is literally killing me and my panic attacks happen for no logical reasoning. Like I literally told my doctor I have no logical reasoning as to why these things happen they just happen it's like my heart just starts racing and never stops. I'll have to take something like an Ativan or something just to calm down but of course I get them from somebody that's prescribed them, I don't abuse them but if I didn't take them or have them for one of those moments or I could have a moment where I Collapse and hurt myself which has happened before. I've even fainted lying down from a panic attack

[@bonniebikowski7478]

Dear beautiful souls, Sending love and light from my heart to yours 💖🙌🫂☯️🪽♾️🦋

[@kittyk.klandasions7008]

Sending love 🙏✝️💟

[@bonniebikowski7478]

Sending love and light from my heart to yours 😻🐾😺🪽🐾🦋🦁​@@kittyk.klandasions7008

[@bonniebikowski7478]

@@kittyk.klandasions7008 Dear beautiful soul, Sending love and light from my heart to yours. My soulmate and spirit guide and love of my life have been my kitty cats 😻🐾🦁🪽🐾😺

[@kevinsmith5318]

Tried AA. But having to listen to the endless and morbid drunkalogues and announce myself as an alcoholic, giving my life over to a higher power… no wonder AA has a 5-8% “success” rate. 90 meetings in 90 days? How the hell does help anyone? But most baffling is why AA is the default? Went to my doctor years ago and told him I was concerned with my increasing drinking problem. His immediate response was that I go to AA. People that get into legal problems due to alcohol the courts sentence them to AA attendance. I hope i will get to witness the demise and final end of AA before i depart this mortal coil. There are so many alternative roads to addiction recovery based on psychology, science and nutrition. Hmm, there you go: the “higher power” trifecta.

[@HereIsmarcus]

I’m not a fan of telling people “you can’t drink anything because you can’t stop” . It seems damaging to me to tell them they don’t have control, Bandler ( one of my idols ) says he takes them to the bar to show them they can have a drink and then stop. That makes much more sense to me.

[@lisao6928]

I agree with you on AA and have had Drs recommend it to me , as well.. It's like you think I couldn't find this information on my own?! A program developed in the 30s.

[@lisao6928]

​@@HereIsmarcuswho is bandler?

[@HereIsmarcus]

@@lisao6928 Richard Bandler. CoFounder of NLP. Hypnotist. Influenced by milton erikson. Both amazing hypnotherapists

[@steph7960]

What's even more damaging is that you are literally AFFIRMING to yourself daily that you are addict. Affirmation s...words, are incredibly powerful. If you are telling yourself this on a daily basis ,you are telling your subconscious...this is all I am. Words are spells...spelling

[@kirstenhyer7319]

The 12th step program in AA is all about shedding that fall self. If it’s done correctly because there is a wrong way of doing it. You will connect infinitely, which brings you back to your true self. You surrender. It’s not to say that you are fixed. But if you work those steps in all your affairs, moment to moment in your life, you will continue to create a momentum with those steps and ultimately you will maintain that infinite connection. Step 11 even suggest meditating regularly to maintain conscious contact with God. You are one with that energy source. How you get there is very unique to each individual. so it’s not just a 12 step program that can take you there but that is one way. AA is that. If you’re just nesting there and you are not doing the work then yes you will only identify with the idea that you are an addict. You will not get to truly know who you are. The idea is to learn the steps, create a momentum and keep that conscious contact with God. Ultimately, knowing truly who you are. And walking with that.

[@user-qu8lh5fk2t]

I started using heroin when i was 20 or so. And i thought this is the best thing in my life. When my mother was talking all days what a failure i am and all the worst, on heroin i just didn't care no more .. it almost didn't hurt me. I just feel a little sorry, that i didn't figured out, that i am working and i could leave and find my own place. I rather listened to humiliations all the time, than leave. .

[@commontouch1787]

Suffering can be a teacher, not only that thing we want to get rid of

[@dm8127]

I always enjoy Gabor Mate. That said, the AA comments sounds like a misunderstanding of AA. Maybe he's just talking about *meetings* and not the actual AA 12 Steps and the Big Book of AA. Meetings are *not* the program. The core literature specifically says that the liquor was but a symptom of underlying causes and conditions. Those causes and conditions would be the psychological and emotional twists caused by our past traumas, dysfunctional behavior, etc.

[@gaiacielo5090]

And also most people who are addicts don’t want to work with the trauma they only want pills unfortunately! I work with addictions and a lot of the people are like that!

[@conniegaby6275]

I went to email and ask for advice. Replayed yesterday. Just saying the team was looking over. No RESPONSE! Needing 1:1 holistic common sense therapist. For loved one. Searching. Our system is such a failure and am looking for common sense holistic approach. If anyone can advise?

[@jenaybrown4575]

But who is my true self?

[@user-mb1dz2wu5j]

DR.MATE is very Compassionate + his book "hungry ghosts" is thorough proof of it! He has Rational View on a.a. because of his intelligence. But most of the people in a.a. drowning in alcohol have used it as a Life raft+ There's Nothing Wrong with that! Same thing with Religion. They Both bring heated debates for +Against. Why would something that Works for Someone get Another SO Upset? CANNABIS ADDICT for 46 yrs. It's Brought me Down Getting High, quite the Contradiction

[@arielm3410]

I hate being sober.. trying to keep going

[@ROORabuser]

I feel you... same here😢

[@vincentgruttadaurio1753]

Was clean for 10 years, it's hard. Haven't cleaned up yet from this time around yet and trying to just remember your life gets worse using. Eventually it's not fun anymore. If we could all do just occasional use it would all be fine but once you get to withdrawal where you can't function day to day it becomes your full time job.

[@choronos]

I'm quitting weed in the very near future, as soon as what I currently have runs out. I've already tapered my usage, and my medical card is about to expire, so that puts a relatively significant obstacle in the way if I tried to relapse. I know the hardest thing for me to deal with in the process is going to be boredom. But, I'm going to keep a note with myself that says in all caps "YOU WERE BORED SMOKING WEED IDIOT" that I will look at whenever things get hairy.

[@rickp.6251]

What if you don't have anything to reconnect with, besides the reason you became an addict in the first place? Accept your physical health may improve and you can develop something from there.

[@sashakildare5144]

"Our culture is getting incredibly stressful..." Too many stressors. In the US, we are manifesting addiction and mental health conditions for many because so many cannot see a path toward a fulfilling future. Trades have been removed from most public education systems and replaced with endless testing. Public education has become a marketplace for meaningless training, software, textbooks, testing, and more. We have communities that can't drink their own water, food deserts, heat deserts, and toxic air. The US has the most expensive healthcare system and the least healthy population in the industrialized world.

[@David-eu1ms]

Clout and self importance are very addictive.

[@texastoast5202]

12 steps is the most destructive, hypocritical and amazingly ridiculous recovery model

[@robynhope219]

It says GM has 20 yrs experience working with addicted and mentally ill people, but NO MENTION ANYWHERE he has a medical specialty. So my question is: can anybody claim to be a specialist without schooling?

[@cliffgoodman8958]

He’s got credentials he is a board certified MD in Canuck Country, das Canada, he did 20 plus years as a GP and many years of Emergency Room Trauma Treatment. He’s the real deal not a Chiropractor that has one year of Physiology in a med school, Chiropractors don’t do?? 7 years of med school and hospital rotations, I’m just not a fan of Chiropractic Hocus Pocus, What the heck kind of treatment is an “Adjustment” cracking my knuckles constantly as a kid only inflamed the joints,

[@robynhope219]

@@cliffgoodman8958 wtf...I did not mention chiropractor. Where that come from?? I knew all that, however, he is not qualified as a psychotherapist or child expert, but wants ppl to think he is. Charlatans do this 🙁

[@graceb3934]

Is not 20 years working DIRECTLY with people who have substance use issues not the best schooling one could have? Plus he is a certified medical doctor.

[@robynhope219]

@@graceb3934 I have been working more than twenty yrs with animals, but I'm not a vet. Does that make me an expert? NO! This guy has delusions of grandeur!

[@moeb8620]

Wow???? Still don’t understand AA AT ALL?!! one said he didn’t go to AA one said he went to a few..? Aa is full of people who are heavy drinkers and heavy users… going to AA meetings is not a treatment to recover?!! It’s a place to learn how to recover-( by the completing and practicing the 12 steps by recovering,( past tense), and helping alcoholics after you recover?!! Alcoholism starts when the bottle and the bag end…. They got that part right- but you can recover from addiction and alcoholism- I’m shocked that Yo Gabba Gabba doesn’t know this or speak on this…? Most people don’t in the medical community- there is a way out- these guys mean well but are speaking to the heavy drinker or situational or emotional User… not the real alcoholic or addict for which the medical model has never been able to truly help- stop saying AA does not work- please 🙏

[@dannyjoyce3]

It works if you work it

[@kategilpin5982]

I'vve been sober since 1971. I still say I'm an alcoholic becaause it reminds me that ingesting even a small mount of alcohol will trigger a compulsive reaction that will cause me to keep drinking. I don't want to go back to that hideous world, so I don't drink. I haven't a significant urge to drink for many years. But my body retains the anomaly of the alcoholic. Also, meetings are great because they give me an opportunity to be helpful to newcomers, and I love that. And AA offers great community, as well.

[@anitamabe3940]

Why the Dr. Himself look high?! Smh