1. “When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress” by Gabor Maté

My Feelings About Reading the Book: Recognizing where I have been or currently am while reading this book is a powerful experience. There are many moments of personal recognition. The Book’s Content for Me: The book feels very realistic because it deals with real people and their stories. I especially appreciated that Gabor personally interacted with these individuals, finding connections between illness, behavior, and developmental trauma. This book reaffirms the vital role emotions play in our lives and the consequences of straying from our true selves. Because this theme repeats in every story, by the end of the book, it’s easy to understand or guess what needs to be done to heal or alleviate diseases. Traditional medicine often disregards the impact of stress on health, stemming from emotional suppressions due to life experiences and how these influence our behavior or reactions. I recommend everyone read this book because it contains valuable information for mapping one’s own stress. Gabor also provides many physiological, anatomical, and biological explanations of what happens in the body under stress—what gets activated and how one body system affects another. For me, this means it is evidence-based. Some Passages from the Book: “People have always intuitively understood that the mind and body are not separate. Modern times have brought about a regrettable dissociation, a gap between what we know with our whole being and what our mind believes to be true.” “My goal in this work is to write about the impact of stress on health, especially hidden stress, which we all generate, based on a program acquired early in life, a pattern so deep and subtle it seems to be part of our true self.” “Many doctors throughout centuries have come to understand that emotions are deeply connected to the causes of diseases or the restoration of health.” “Our immune system does not exist separately from everyday experience. For example, it has been proven that the normally functioning immune defense of healthy young people is suppressed in medical students under the stress of final exams.” “The stress experienced during childhood can leave individuals defenseless against acute and chronic stress, affecting their ability to use necessary fight-or-flight responses. The core problem is not external stress, such as life events cited in studies, but environmental helplessness, which prevents normal fight-or-flight responses. The resulting internal stress is suppressed and becomes invisible. Finally, unmet needs or compulsion to meet others’ needs no longer seem stressful. It feels normal. And the person is disarmed.” “Psychological effects make a decisive contribution to the development of malignant diseases through the interconnected components of the body’s stress system: nerves, endocrine glands, the immune system, and brain centers that perceive and process emotions. Biological and psychological effects are not independent; each represents the functioning of a supersystem whose components can no longer be considered separate or autonomous mechanisms.” “At the heart of the psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) system is the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis). Psychological and physical stimuli activate the HPA axis, causing the body to respond to danger. Psychological stimuli are first assessed in the emotion centers known as the limbic system, including parts of the cortex and deeper brain structures. When the brain interprets incoming information as a threat, the hypothalamus signals the pituitary gland to secrete adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). ACTH, in turn, causes the adrenal cortex to release cortisol into the bloodstream. Simultaneously, the hypothalamus sends messages to the adrenal medulla through the sympathetic nervous system—the fight-or-flight part of the nervous system. The adrenal medulla prepares and secretes adrenaline, which immediately stimulates the cardiovascular and nervous systems. Unsurprisingly, emotional stress is also a powerful psychological trigger for the HPA axis: Psychological factors such as uncertainty, conflict, lack of control, and lack of information are considered the most stressful stimuli and strongly activate the HPA axis. The immediate suppression of HPA activity results in a feeling of control and adaptive behavior (Jaana Saare’s note: illusory and dysfunctional sense of control and inappropriate behavior that does not correspond to the real situation but the repetition of an event from the past).” “How people grow up shapes their relationship with their body and psyche. Childhood emotional contexts interact with innate temperament, creating personality traits. Much of what we call personality is not a fixed set of traits but merely coping mechanisms acquired during childhood. There is an important difference between an innate characteristic that exists regardless of the environment and a behavior pattern developed to ensure survival in response to the environment.” “Most people think of placebo as merely a matter of imagination, ‘mind over matter.’ Although it is triggered by thought or emotion, the placebo effect is purely physiological. It activates neurological and chemical processes in the body that aim to reduce symptoms or promote healing.” “The prefrontal cortex is where the brain stores emotional memories. It interprets current physical and psychological stimuli in the light of past experiences, which can go back to infancy. Activation of this brain area means that an emotionally significant event is taking place. People who have experienced chronic stress remain hyper-vigilant, always scanning for danger. The activation of the prefrontal cortex is not a conscious decision but the automatic triggering of long-programmed neural pathways.” Seven Steps to Healing: Acceptance, Awareness, Anger, Autonomy, Attachment, Self-assertion, Affirmation. Unfortunately, it is impossible to highlight all the good points because that would mean rewriting the entire book. What I particularly liked is that Gabor uses specific individuals, their diagnoses, and interviews to expand on all topics. This makes the reading very realistic. It feels like everything is evidence-based and explainable—why the disease came and why it has specific symptoms. I dream that one day our medical science, or whatever it will be called in the future, will be able to see the big picture, verify facts with analyses, and expand the world of solutions through human life experiences. Happy reading!