"In this revolutionary book, renowned physician Gabor Maté eloquently dissects how in Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two. In Canada, every fifth person has high blood pressure. In Europe, hypertension is diagnosed in more than 30 percent of the population. And everywhere, adolescent mental illness is on the rise. So what is really "normal" when it comes to health?"-- Provided by publisher.

Why normal is a myth (and why that matters) -- Our Interconnected nature -- The distortion of human development -- Rethinking abnormal: afflictions as adaptations -- The toxicities of our culture -- Pathways to wholeness. Why normal is a myth (and why that matters) -- Our interconnected nature. The last place you want to be: facets of trauma -- Living in an immaterial world: emotions, health, and the body-mind unity -- You rattle my brain: our highly interpersonal biology -- Everything I'm surrounded by: dispatches from the new science -- It ain't a thing: disease as process -- A traumatic tension: attachment vs. authenticity -- The distortion of human development. Who are we really? : human nature, human needs -- A sturdy or fragile foundation: children's irreducible needs -- Trouble at the threshold: before we come into the world -- What choice do I have? : childbirth in a medicalized culture -- Horticulture on the moon : parenting, undetermined -- Forcing the brain in the wrong direction: the sabotage of childhood -- A template for distress: how culture builds our characters -- Rethinking abnormal: afflictions as adaptations. Just not to be you: debunking the myths about addiction -- Show of hands: a new view of addiction -- An inaccurate map of our pain: what we can get wrong about mental illness -- The mind can do some amazing things: from madness to meaning -- The toxicities of our culture. From society to cell: uncertainty, conflict, and loss of control -- Robbing the human spirit: disconnection and its discontents -- They just don't care if it kills you: sociopathy as strategy -- The assaulted sense of self: how race and class get under the skin -- Society's shock absorbers: why women have it worse -- We feel their pain: our trauma-infused politics -- Pathways to wholeness. Mind in the lead: the possibility of healing -- Four A's and five compassions: some healing principles -- A dreadful gift: disease as teacher -- Before the body says no: first steps on the return to self -- Seeing is disbelieving: undoing self-limiting beliefs -- Foes to friends: working with the obstacles to healing -- Jesus in the tipi: psychedelics and healing -- My life as a genuine thing: touching spirit -- Unmaking a myth: visioning a saner society.