In the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté may be challenging and intense to confront at times. The title alone conjures a horror story. What does Maté mean by Hungry Ghosts? In explaining the basis of the title of his book, he says:
“The inhabitants of the Hungry Ghost Realm are depicted as creatures with scrawny necks, small mouths, emaciated limbs and large, bloated, empty bellies. This is the domain of addiction, where we constantly seek something outside ourselves to curb an insatiable yearning for relief or fulfillment….
This definition of addiction as a state where we constantly seek something outside ourselves to curb an insatiable yearning for relief or fulfillment, could apply to how many of us spend much of our free time. However, Gabor Matés work as a psychiatrist is primarily focused on individuals that one might refer to as hardcore drug addicts.
It’s so easy to look down on a drug addict who uses an illegal substance to curb an insatiable yearning for relief or fulfillment. I can see her as “other”as she uses needles or pipes to take her drug of choice openly on a public sidewalk, while I sip from a socially approved can or fancy glass. It doesn’t matter that I use alcohol for many of the same reasons that she uses illegal drugs; I do not “look like” an addict. Yet, I have found much to relate to in Maté’s study of addiction and recovery.
In Maté’s continuation of the definition of hungry ghosts that started above, I see my own relationship with my drug of choice.
… The aching emptiness is perpetual because the substances, objects or pursuits we hope will soothe it are not what we really need. We don’t know what we need, and so long as we stay in the hungry ghost mode, we’ll never know. We haunt our lives without being fully present.”
Join us in our Boom Rethink the Drink Community Book Club for a Dicussion of In the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Mate
Take the reading slow – or at your own comfortable pace. This will enable you to absorb the many ideas, shocks, thoughts, views and themes that are bound to crop up and maybe even hit a nerve. And as always you are more than welcome to join in the discussion ebven if you have not yet read the book.
Part One of the Discussion
open blue links to read posts in our private community
- All aboard the hell bound train!
- Chapter 2: But why is this happening?
- Chapter 3 & 4 – The role of trauma in addiction
- Chapter 5 & 6 – Love and the divine
- Chapter 7 & 8 – Connection as cure
- Part 2 – Strange addictive behaviours
- Part 3 – What is addiction? Chapter 11, 12 & 13
- Part 3 – Emotional mayhem in Chapter 14, 15 & 16
- Part 4 – Chapter 17, 18 & 19 Brain gain or drain
- Part 5 – The process & personality of addiction
- Part 6 – What’s wrong with this picture?
- Part 7 – The road to recovery
JOIN US ! IN A BOOK CLUB ABOUT MUCH MORE THAN QUIT LIT
You can access our Boom Community Book Club archive with the titles below.
- The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober – A Boom Community Book Club Selection
- Sober Diaries – A Boom Community Book Club Selection
- Blackout – A Boom Community Book Club Selection
- Chasing the Scream – A Boom Community Book Club Selection
- Untamed – A Boom Community Book Club Selection
- Push Off From Here – A Boom Community Book Club Selection
- Staying Sober Without AA – A Boom Community Book Club Selection
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