Pubdate: Thu, 23 Jun 2016
Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
Page: A6
Copyright: 2016 The Leader-Post Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.leaderpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361
Author: Ashley Robinson

TRAUMA ROOT CAUSE OF ADDICTION, DOCTOR SAYS

Trauma is at the nature of addiction, according to Dr. Gabor Mate.

"Addiction is only a symptom, it's not the fundamental problem. The 
fundamental problem is trauma," said Mate.

Mate was in Regina on Wednesday to speak at the sixth International 
Training Symposium on Innovative Approaches to Justice: Where Justice 
and Treatment Meet.

The conference started Tuesday and runs until Friday at the Hotel 
Saskatchewan. Judges, lawyers, counsellors and professionals who work 
in treatment courts from across the country are in attendance, along 
with a handful of people from the United States. The conference is 
held every two years, with the last one being held in Vancouver.

"A lot of issues that people have are related to a trauma in their 
life ... so we're bringing in professionals to talk about the nuts 
and bolts of how you deal with that population," said Saskatchewan 
provincial court Judge Clifford Toth, one of the organizers of the conference.

Mate, a doctor from Vancouver, is one of the keynote speakers. He 
worked for 12 years in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, one of the most 
concentrated areas of drug use in Canada. He also wrote a book about 
addiction entitled In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts.

His talk at the conference, A Biophysical Perspective on Addiction, 
focused on the nature of addiction, what causes it and the way to 
best approach people who are suffering from it.

"Before we ask how we handle something, we have to understand what 
are we handling,"Mate said.

Addiction connects back to trauma that people have experienced in 
their life, said Mate. Once people understand this, then treatment can happen.

"Unfortunately, most of the medical profession and the legal system 
does not understand addiction. Therefore our treatment and legal 
solutions tend not to be helpful, and in fact they often tend to be 
harmful," he said.

Mate sees drug treatment courts, like the one that is operated in 
Regina, as a step in the right direction. The courts are a step away 
from the traditional punishment approach. There is recognition in the 
courts that there is no justice without health, Mate said. These 
courts recognize that people are acting out because of their trauma.

"When we understand that the people who are addicted are traumatized 
people, now we have to take an approach that will help them heal that 
trauma, rather than make it worse,"Mate said.

Mate sees the conference as a way to open peoples' minds to giving 
people that treatment.

"What I get about the conference is that it's a real earnest and 
well-organized attempt to broaden the conversation and to bring 
together people from different disciplines," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom