The wisdom of trauma

Summary: "One in five Americans are diagnosed with mental illness in any given year. In the US, death by suicide is the second most common cause of death for those aged 15-24, killing over 48,000. Annually, drug overdose kill 81,000 in the US. The autoimmunity epidemic affects 24 million people in the US. What is going on? The interconnected epidemics of anxiety, chronic illness, and substance abuse are, according to Dr. Gabor Maté, normal. But not in the way you might think. In The Wisdom of Trauma, we travel alongside physician, bestselling author, and Order of Canada recipient Dr. Gabor Maté to explore the root causes of the myriad health epidemics faced by Western countries. This is a journey with a man who has dedicated his life to understanding the connection between illness, addiction, trauma, and society. Trauma is the invisible, but no less material, force that shapes our lives. It shapes the way we live, the way we form connections, and the way we make sense of the world. It is the root of our deepest wounds. Dr. Maté gives us a new vision: a trauma-literate society in which parents, teachers, physicians, policy makers, and legal personnel seek to understand the sources from which troubling behaviors and diseases spring, in order to better address the issues of the populations they serve. Through his insights a path materializes towards individual and collective healing, with practices that aim to create cures to address root causes before they manifest as physical symptoms."--videoproject.org. The film visits Chrysalis Recovery House, the Downtown Eastside, and UBC Medical School in Vancouver, B.C.