Dr Gabor Maté is a Canadian physician. He’s known for his extensive work in the fields of mental health, addiction, stress, and childhood development.
Wiki/Biography
Dr Gabor Maté was born on Thursday, 6 January 1944 (age 80 years; as of 2024) in Budapest, Hungary. His zodiac sign is Capricorn. In 1956 he immigrated to Vancouver, Canada with his family from Hungary.
Gabor Mate as a four-month-old baby, held by his mother
He completed his Bachelor in Art from the University of British Columbia. In 1997 he returned to the Univesity of British Columbia to obtain his M.D. in general family practice.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 7″
Hair Colour: Grey
Eye Colour: Brown
Family
Dr Gabor was born into a Jewish family during the Second World War.
Parents & Siblings
Dr Gabor’s father, Andor Meltzer was born in 1910, in Budapest, Hungary, into a poor Yiddish-speaking family. while his mother, Judith Lowi was born in 1919 in Kassa, Hungary, into a European cultured Jewish upper-middle class family. He has 2 younger brothers, Janos Maté and George Maté.
Dr Gabor Maté with his brother, Janos Maté
Other Relatives
Nazies killed Dr Gabor’s maternal grandparents, Hannah Lövi and Josef Lövi in Auschwitz Concentration Camp. His aunt also disappeared during the war.
Wife & Children
Dr Gabor Maté married his wife, Rae Maté, in 1969.
Dr Gabor Maté with his wife, Rae Maté
Together they have 1 daughter, Hannah Rose Maté, and 2 sons, Daniel Maté and Aaron Maté. Daniel is an award-winning musical theatre composer-lyricist, and Aaron is a writer and journalist. While their daughter is a PhD student in clinical psych.
Dr Gabor Maté with his wife and children
Career
After completing his Bachelor’s in Art, for a few years, he worked as a high school English and literature teacher. For 12 years, he worked as a staff member of the Portland Hotel, a residence and resource centre located in downtown Vancouver. He has worked in the Palliative Care Unit at Vancouver Hospital for seven years as the medical coordinator as well. He also ran a private family practice for 20 years in East Vancouver. Dr Gabor Maté published his first book, Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder, on January 1, 1999. On January 1, 2003, he published his second book, When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress. His third publication was in collaboration with Gordon Neufeld, ‘Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers’, which came out on January 1, 2004. He released his fourth book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction, on February 12, 2007. His fifth book, ‘The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture’ with his son Daniel Maté, was published on September 13, 2022.
Awards, Honours, Achievements
- In 2009 he was awarded the Hubert Evans Prize for Literary Non-Fiction for his book “In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction.”
- In 2011 he was awarded the Civic Merit Award of the City of Vancouver for his contributions to understanding mental health and youth, as it relates to addiction, stress and childhood development and his extensive work in addiction treatment.
- In 2018, he was awarded the “Order of Canada, ” a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit after the Order of Merit.
Facts/Trivia
- Dr Gabor Maté owns a cat named Nutmeg.
Dr Gabor Maté with his cat, Nutmeg
- Dr Gabor Maté previously owned one more cat named Lucy, who passed away on June 17, 2022.
Dr Gabor Maté with his cat, Lucy
- Dr Gabor Maté’s maternal grandparents were killed in Auschwitz when he was five months old.
- At the age of 1, Dr Gabor Maté’s mother left him in the care of a stranger for over five weeks to save his life.
- His wife, Rae Maté, was his fellow graduate at the University of British Columbia.
- His father was endured forced labour at the hands of the Nazi Party.
- Once he and his brother, in 1956, were ambushed by a group of their neighbourhood friends who punched them while spitting out racial epithets.
- Dr Gabor’s live-streamed interview with Prince Harry faced a lot of criticism from the psychologist community as he publicly diagnosed Prince with PTSD, ADHD, anxiety, and depression, based on his conversation with him and reading his autobiography Spare. this act was labelled as reckless and unorthodox.
- his notion of “trac[ing] every case of addiction back to childhood trauma, stating that “most addicts weren’t traumatized as kids; most traumatized people don’t become addicts.” also met with disagreements from a psychologist and psychotherapist, Stanton Peele.
- Dr Gabor made national headlines in 2008 when he defended the physicians working at Insite after Tony Clement, the federal Minister of Health, attacked them as unethical.
- In his interview with Piers Morgan in November 2023, he described how he cried every day for two weeks after visiting Gaza. He also called for an end to the occupation and persecution of Palestinians, as well as a return of Palestinian land occupied since 1967.
