The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture

The Myth of Normal by Dr. Gabor Maté, an instant New York Times bestseller, is a groundbreaking exploration of the real causes behind today’s growing health crisis. Drawing on over forty years of clinical experience, Maté challenges the conventional idea of what is considered “normal” in Western medicine. Despite advanced healthcare systems, chronic diseases, mental illness, and stress-related disorders continue to rise globally.

Maté argues that modern society itself—through its pressures, disconnection, and emotional stress—plays a central role in making people sick. Western medicine, he says, often treats symptoms without addressing the deeper roots of illness found in trauma, stress, and cultural imbalance. Co-written with his son Daniel, the book connects personal suffering to broader social dysfunction and offers a compassionate vision for true healing—one that integrates body, mind, and society rather than separating them.