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

by Gabor Maté

physician David Smithers published a paper of prophetic force. He explored cancer as process: not a disease of individual cells gone rogue but a manifestation of an imbalanced environment, “merely the terminal [event] in a much longer progressive chain of circumstances with no distinctive starting-point.”

We’ve discovered that when people feel threatened, insecure—especially over an extended period of time—our bodies are programmed to turn on inflammatory genes.”

Most of our tensions and frustrations stem from compulsive needs to act the role of someone we are not. —János (Hans) Selye, M.D., The Stress of Life

As I stated earlier, blame is inappropriate, unmerited, and cruel; it is also unscientific.