The Myth of Normal

Another book group recommendation (thanks, Chris). I had this book on reserve at the library for months, but when my husband brought it home for me, I almost fainted. The Myth of Normal is a BRICK! Subtitled Illness, Health and Healing in a Toxic Culture, Gabor Maté and his co-author, son Daniel, explore the ways in which our modern lives are quite literally making us sick. Maté argues that not only is modern civilisation literally poisoning us with a cocktail of toxic chemicals, pollution, poor food and
 environmental destruction, we are also psychologically suffering from a disconnection from the natural world and the supports of community. 

Maté makes a strong case for these imbalances and stressors being expressed in our bodymind -- physical manifestions of mental and emotional stress. He draws on his own long clinical career as well as others' observations to point out examples like the fact that 'nice' people, mostly women, seem to suffer disproportionately from motor neurone disease, and postulates that it might be the result of being TOO nice, squashing down their own needs to help others. I'm not entirely sure that I buy this particular example, but it's definitely an interesting concept and well worth exploring.

It's hard to disagree that we would be a healthier culture if we were better connected to each other, if we thought of ourselves as part of nature rather than separate from it, if we prioritised the joys of life rather than accumulating money and power. Isn't it odd how all these books end up coming to very similar conclusions? Perhaps the ancients were wise after all.