We are excited to bring you another thrilling book review as part of our Flowly Book Review Series! This week, we invite you to join us in exploring The Myth of Normal as Christine, a member of the Flowly team, takes us on a journey through its pages.
What's it about?
The Myth of Normal, a revolutionary book by renowned physician Gabor Maté, exposes the escalating prevalence of chronic illness and declining health in Western countries. Despite advanced healthcare systems, a large portion of the population is heavily reliant on prescription drugs, experiencing high blood pressure, and grappling with rising rates of adolescent mental illness. Maté challenges the flawed understanding of "normal" health, emphasizing the detrimental impact of trauma, stress, and modern-day pressures on our physical and mental well-being. With compassion and urgency, he unravels common myths about illness, linking individual maladies to the deteriorating state of society. In collaboration with his son Daniel, Maté offers a compelling guide to holistic health and healing, urging readers to embrace a comprehensive approach to well-being in the face of contemporary challenges.
Why did you choose to read The Myth of Normal?
I was browsing my local bookstore, and the cover caught my eye. During this time, I was talking to the chronic illness community and having organic conversations about feeling "normal" and the changing definition of "normal" for chronic warriors.
What are the main takeaways?
1. In alignment with our belief here at Flowly that pain should be approached from a biopsychosocial model, the authors highlight the influences and the impact our current society and our individual, familial history and relationship have on our physical and mental health.
2. All emotions are vital for us, including anger. Anger is our brain and nervous system creating boundaries and protecting us. When we suppress our healthy anger (especially when we need to set boundaries to protect ourselves), we ignore our needs, which the anger then manifests in other ways. An eye-opening anecdote in the book that speaks to this is how medical professionals can accurately predict if someone has a diagnosis based on how nice they are.
3. Healing starts from acceptance. Acceptance means that we're self-aware, and that unlocks the start of our healing journey. You can only help people who have accepted that they need help first.
How did The Myth of Normal affect you?
I've known that women are more likely to have chronic pain because of working at Flowly, but this book helped me see a perspective as to WHY. Maté states, "Women often serve as the emotional glue - the connective tissue […]. It is no coincidence they suffer far more than men do from diseases of ACTUAL connective tissue, among which lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, fibromyalgia, and their multiple relatives are variants."
Coming out of reading this book, I've made it a personal promise to myself to allow myself to get angry to ensure that my boundaries are protected (even going against my cultural upbringing) and have been making more efforts for introspective analysis of my emotions and physical discomfort to learn what I'm ignoring or suppressing.
Who should read The Myth of Normal?
Everyone. It's very easy to dismiss this book by thinking, "I don't have trauma," but the trend we see in data is that there's a growing uptick of people with chronic symptoms and physical and mental pain. Even if you don't relate to anything in this book, you'll come out of reading it with a better understanding of what people with chronic pain are going through and how to better nurture your relationship with them.
Have a book you would like to review and share with the Flowly community? Send us an email at contact@flowly.world.