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A recent study by psychologists at the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of South Carolina, Columbia found that children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were significantly more likely to develop drug addictions as adults. Compared to children without the disorder, researchers concluded ADHD made addiction to nicotine three times more likely, cocaine twice as likely, and marijuana 1.5 times more likely. One UCLA researcher estimated 5 to 7% of school-age children are affected by the condition. The rise in ADHD among youth has been a major source of concern and speculation for the past few years. There is no medical consensus on the cause or effective treatments for the disorder. Likewise with drug addiction, which has long been declared a major social problem. Those who suffer from an addictive or behavioral condition, and the people who love them, are desperate to find help, but often receive contradictory advice from the medical and therapeutic community. In this field of medicine fraught with gray areas Dr. Gabor Maté has risen to be a respected and unique voice. He has written four acclaimed books on addiction, ADHD, and the mind-body connection. Dr. Maté currently works at the Portland Hotel in Vancouver Canada, with patients suffering from mental illness, drug addiction and living with HIV. He ran a private practice for over 20 years, and also spent 7 years in the Palliative Care Unit at Vancouver Hospital. His approach to the often devastating conditions he treats is compassionate, empathetic, and sometimes contrary to the mainstream. Dr. Maté asserts that ADHD is not an inherited disorder, and that it is curable because it stems from a reversible deficit in the emotional development of children. His best-selling book on addiction, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, explains all addictions as a treatable conditions born of, “an insatiable yearning for relief or fulfillment.”

GUEST: Dr. Gabor Maté, currently a staff physician at the Portland Hotel, a residence and resource center in Vancouver’s Eastside. The author of four books: When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress; Scattered Minds: A New Look at the Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder; Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Thank Peers; and co-author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction.

Writers in Treatment and the Pasadena Recovery Center present:

Dr. Gabor Maté speaks at the Skirball Cultural Center April 29th at 7:30PM.
Suggested donation $15 (no one will be turned away). RSVP to info@writersintreatment.org. Reception at 6:00PM with food and beverages available.