The Wisdom of Trauma through The Power Of Healing
In The Documentary The Wisdom Of Trauma, Dr.Gabor Maté Provides a profoundly human insight into the struggles of the often overlooked members of society and reveals the underlying trauma that is the source of many of the world’s problems. How many times have you passed by a homeless or drug-addicted person on the street? Have you ever felt disgust? Have you ever judged them for ending up that way?
The Wisdom of Trauma, directed by Maurizio Benazzo and Zaya Benazzo, Predominantly focuses on renowned physician Dr. Gabor Maté as he reveals the underlying trauma to many of society’s struggles, Through Personal anecdotes and psychological insights, Maté argues that Trauma is the cause of disease, addiction, and the rise of anxiety and depression amongst the youth as well as the cause of consumerism and destruction of the planet
The film was profoundly impactful. As someone who has suffered my own childhood traumas, I often felt alone with that pain. Dr Maté Argues that it is this aloneness that is the source of trauma. Maté’s work is valuable and exposes the truth behind many people’s suffering. And offers a solution of compassion and understanding that gives people the space to heal their traumas.
Despite raising awareness, this film has faced some criticisms for its overgeneralization of the causes of addiction or disease and illness. While trauma is a key risk factor for all of these things, genetics and biology still play a very important role, and ignoring this to only focus solely on trauma does more harm than good. That being said, I believe that Maté has good intentions, and his work speaks for itself. Overall this was an excellent film that I rate an 8.5/10
The Wisdom Of Trauma filmmakers focus predominantly on Dr. Gabor Maté, a Canadian physician who fled Germany with his mother after surviving the Holocaust, Despite this adverse childhood experience, Maté went on to be a very successful doctor, speaker, and advocate for harm reduction, However, his personal life was rife with conflict. How could such a well-spoken and thoughtful successful person not manage to connect with his family? The Answer he discovered was Trauma…
Trauma is a word that we hear often, mainly as a buzzword or a catch-all term, But what exactly is trauma?
According to Dr Maté “Trauma is not the bad things that happen to you but what happens inside you as a result of what happened to you (The Wisdom Of Trauma)
At just one year old, Maté’s family suffered the consequences of the Holocaust. His father had been sent to a labor camp. His grandparents were murdered in Auschwitz. Antisemitism was on the rise. His mother fearing extinction, was forced to make a choice. She had no idea what was going to happen to her, so she left her child alone with a stranger for 6 weeks so that he may survive
Many people may believe that a child so young is not capable of remembering such events, What you may not realize is how Vital these early periods of development are for a child, Maté offers an explanation as to why
Baby Gabor had been ripped away from his mother.. The one comfort he had ever known. He was surrounded by so much pain and chaos that his little mind had no ability to grasp or process this. This temporary abandonment was enough to forever leave a mark upon Gabor’s psyche
According to Dr Maté one does not need to have experienced an event such as the holocaust, or war, or racism, to experience trauma. All it takes is a parent not attuned to the emotional needs of a child to traumatize them. Children need attachment. They need to feel the love and care of their parents. Otherwise, without this, they will have no way of regulating themselves in such an overwhelming and confusing environment
Maté Interviews a wide range of people with different backgrounds and struggles.
One woman at the age of 16 had been kidnapped and sold for 6 months. During this time, her parents did not look for her. Maté Comments that this kidnapper knew precisely the right person to kidnap and had sensed her vulnerability
Maté digs deep into her upbringing. it turns out her father had been very abusive towards her for most of her life. Her mother, however, was more of a passive observer as she had also been abused as a child. Her mother was detached from her feelings, and this is what led her to ignore the abuse her husband had inflicted on her child
One man, “Michael,” had what many would perceive to be a wonderful childhood. His parents provided him with everything he wanted, as they were upper-middle-class. Many people would envy such a childhood.. However, his parents used this to avoid connecting with their child. He was alone, Instead of giving him the love and connection he so craved his parents instead replaced that with material objects.
Analysis
The filmmakers Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo use various techniques to get their messaging across. The film opens up with a shot of a newborn child as It slowly transitions between older children and a wide range of adults, evoking feelings of sorrow and compassion as you realize what these people may have experienced. With a sad backtrack, the film pulls you into the minds of the traumatized. The filmmakers switch from head-on interviews to Hand-drawn animations as dramatic sound effects play in the background to draw you into the shoes of the interviewee
Maté had shifted focus from family medicine to helping addicts they were so desperate to escape the reality they had many infections in their bodies, but because they were addicts they were kicked out of the hospital
“Children don’t get traumatized because of the hurt but because they’re alone with the hurt” – Gabor Maté
One Man Joey Carter was considered a lost cause by most people’s standards
He then met Joey Carter, who had been wheelchair-bound, when mate decided to help him and recommended he go to CTC-R, He allowed him to get help despite his addiction and even allowed him morphine me met Joey where he was at and treated him like a person. His family had abandoned him because they couldn’t stand to see him suffer he was left homeless and alone
The film also shows a woman helping homeless
“Trauma is not the bad things that happen to you but what happens inside you as a result of what happened to you. – Gabor Mate ,n
Many of us may be carrying wounds that have been passed down from generation to generation unaware of the source of this pain.
He felt unwanted so he became a workhacolic people wanted and needed him
Mate argues that we as a society are collectively traumatized and our social structure induces trauma which then induces escapism and addictive behaviors.
That disease and cancer is rooted in trauma rise of asthma because of stress African Americans have a high level of cancer because the stress. Is the sickness a reflection of society?
He argues that instead of doctors prescribing all these medicines and treatments for these conditions that instead they should look at the root cause stress and Trauma and treat that instead, As long as pharma companies are motivated by profit they’ll priories treating the symptoms instead of the cause
It has a very anti material capitalism message.
Were the richest society half of people have a chronic disorder
What is the illness teaching? We should ask ourselves what does this mean what is the teaching
Mate promotes psychedelics as a treatment for trauma and one of the people he interviewed had used them to feel better and get insight on his illness and anxiety. he claims to have gotten more from one trip than from 5 years of psychotherapy
Mste promoted Ayahuasca as a treatment for addiction
It induced a state of love and gratitude and helped him see what was behind his addictive behaviors he also learned that it had the power to teach people about their trauma and show them what happened
He developed a therapy called compassionate therapy
We are disconnected from our bodies and thus disconnected from the earth. schools are full of people with trauma based learning difficulties and many teachers and those in the justice system are unaware of trauma and how to respond to it
The film argues that pain and trauma is the root cause of addiction they’re using drugs to avoid a deeper pain. that it’s important to knowledge someone on the street they’re suffering alone. They feel locked down on with people passing by notnaonowleging them they’re sense of self and dignity has been completely reinforced as nonexistent homelessness needs to be humanized these are people who’ve been beaten down. it makes sense they’d turn to drugs to escape that pain