IN THE REALM OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS

Dr. Gabor Maté

By Human Library Creator- Michaella Voss

Welcome back to Bellbird Book Club! The year is still young, with lots of exciting prospects ahead of us all. I have never been much of a fan of ‘New Years Resolutions’ as such, however I listened to a very interesting podcast recently that spoke about how we can ‘reframe’ the classic new year’s resolution. The podcast suggested moving away from setting a list of ‘things’ to tick off for the year but reflect deeply instead around the person we want to become over the next twelve months.

I hope you have all had the reflection time needed already, moving into this year to ponder on the person you want to be when 2024 ends. For myself, I want to leave 2024 feeling connected and enlightened. If you are anything like me, the Bellbird Book Club will continue to be a space to support you to work towards this way of being. I hope you find our first read for the year as interesting as I did, let’s get into it!

The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts is a book that attempts to re-educate us about all things ‘addiction’. Dr Gabor Maté the author, derives the title of his book from the Buddhist ‘Wheel of Life’, which includes a realm called “hungry ghost”. This realm is likened to the experience of addiction, where we are constantly searching for a source outside of ourselves that will support us to fulfil the constant hunger we feel deep within. How amazing that even the title of the book is carefully thought out in a way that enhances our knowledge base.

Much like The Body Keeps the Score, one of our first reads of the Bellbird Book Club, In the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts is a heavy non-fiction read. Maté is constantly providing scientific facts around neuroscience, antidotes from his own practice experience as well as personally reflecting on his own life to date and journey through his own addictions. The content, to say the least, is heavy and I would encourage people who dare to take on such an intellectual challenge to really take their time with the content to fully receive the book’s true benefits.

One of the most poignant take away messages throughout the book is that addiction is simply another way to manage the pain in the human experience. Maté quotes that “it is impossible to understand addiction without asking what relief the addict finds or hopes to find in the drug or addictive behavior”. All of us, as people, have painful experiences we are trying to numb and feelings and triggers we struggle to sit with. Addiction is just a tool that a lot of us utilise to support us in managing pain and affliction.

In the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts is a powerful call-to-arms, both for the decriminalisation of drugs and for a more sympathetic and informed view of addiction. As Maté observes, “those whom we dismiss as ‘junkies’ are not creatures from a different world, only men and women mired at the extreme end of a continuum on which, here or there, all of us might well locate ourselves.” Addiction is a purposeful activity, not a disease or even a condition to be cured. The purpose of addiction is to compensate for trauma, often experienced in childhood, that has produced an emotional deficit and real physical and psychic pain. Addiction succeeds in compensating for this deficit and in reducing the pain involved. Addiction also has undesirable physical side effects which are amplified by social stigmas and legal prohibitions.

Maté briefly outlines several of the traits that make an individual prone to addiction. These include poor self-regulation (the ability to maintain emotional balance and stability); a lack of differentiation and self-identity (the capacity to hold onto a healthy sense of self, especially while interacting with others); impaired impulse control(“a salient trait of the addiction-prone personality is a poor hold over sudden feelings, urges and desires”); and a sense of deficient emptiness(the addict believes that he is “not enough).

In beginning to understand more comprehensively how people become vulnerable to addiction and the way in which addiction exists across society, we begin to empathize more with people who are addicted. The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts encourages a newfound understanding where instead of envisioning addicts as individuals on the outskirts of society, we recognise the own addict that lives deep within us all. Through this new understanding, we also see that every single one of us needs connection, purpose and belonging, singing true to one of the purpose statements of Alcoholics Anonymous that “connection is the opposite of addiction”.

I feel as if the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts is a fantastic book that encourages reflection within and reminds us as social service practitioners of the biases we bring to our practice and interactions with others. The content in this book reminds us of the importance of trying to leave our biases and preconceived ideas outside of our therapeutic interactions with those we work alongside. We need to create space to really connect with people and be able to visualise more than just behaviour but grow to understand the story that goes alongside of it.