Mind-Body Trauma Research: The Truth with Dr. Gabor Maté

Why does groundbreaking research on mind-body medicine disappear without a trace? How do emotional factors create conditions for chronic illness and autoimmune disease decades later? What happens when a Harvard study shows severe PTSD doubles ovarian cancer risk—and the medical system simply ignores it?

Dr. Gabor Maté joins me to discuss the writing process behind The Myth of Normal, his 19-week New York Times bestseller bringing together decades of research on trauma, nervous system dysregulation, and how emotional factors drive physical disease. We explore why mind-body unity—understood since Socrates 2,600 years ago—remains controversial in mainstream medicine despite overwhelming scientific evidence. Gabor addresses the most damaging misconception about his work: that he blames parents and patients.

Whether we're trauma-informed practitioners, healing from chronic illness, or parents navigating guilt and shame, we'll understand why this conversation about mind-body medicine is finally reaching people—even when the medical system isn't ready.

 

In this episode you'll learn:

• [01:59] The Myth of Normal Journey: How 10 years of research and 20,000 articles became a 500-page synthesis of trauma biology

• [04:00] Writing for Critics Made Me Sick: Why trying to convince skeptics creates the very trauma biology we're studying

• [06:00] Harvard's 1939 Buried Truth: Soma Weiss's lecture on emotional factors equaling physical factors—and why it's still ignored

• [07:42] PTSD Doubles Ovarian Cancer Risk: Harvard study the average gynecologist never read—and what it means for trauma healing

• [09:40] People Are Ready, Systems Aren't: Why this trauma revolution is happening at the grassroots level first

• [13:53] New York Times Bestseller Doesn't Equal Happiness: The personal lesson about achievement and inner state

• [16:00] The Biggest Misconception: Addressing the damaging claim that Gabor blames parents and patients for illness

• [18:00] ADHD, Genes, and Environment: Why genetic sensitivity plus stressed parents creates attention dysregulation—without blame

 

Main Takeaways:

• Mind-Body Unity Isn't New Science: Socrates recognized 2,600 years ago that separating mind from body was medicine's fundamental error, and Harvard professor Soma Weiss lectured in 1939 that emotional factors equal physical factors in disease causation and healing. This isn't cutting-edge discovery—it's forgotten wisdom the medical system repeatedly buries.

• Scientific Evidence Disappears in the Bermuda Triangle: Hundreds of peer-reviewed studies demonstrate trauma's biological impact on chronic illness, autoimmune disease, and cancer risk, yet research doesn't change medicine when ideology creates blind spots. A Harvard study showed severe PTSD doubles ovarian cancer risk, but the average gynecologist never reads it.

• Empowerment, Not Blame, Changes Lives: Understanding that stress affects multiple sclerosis relapse risk or that the environment acts on ADHD genes doesn't blame patients or parents—it empowers them. Knowledge of how trauma creates conditions for illness provides agency to address root causes rather than remaining passive recipients of symptomatic care.

• Mitochondrial Dysfunction Extends the Mind-Body Framework: While The Myth of Normal covers mind-body unity comprehensively, Biology of Trauma® goes deeper to subcellular levels—showing how trauma affects mitochondria, cellular energy production, and the biology underneath symptoms.

 

Notable Quotes:

"Socrates said 2,600 years ago in ancient Greece that the problem with the doctors today is they separate the mind from the body."

"Emotional factors are at least as important in the causation of disease as physiological factors, and must be at least as important in the healing." (From the 1939 Harvard lecture)

"You can have the same genes and have ADHD or not have ADHD. What makes the difference is how the environment acts on those genes."

"Trauma is so ubiquitous in this culture and it's so poorly understood and addressed in the healing profession."

"The change will happen at the level of people, not at the system. The people will demand the system change."

 

Episode Takeaway:

What struck me most in this conversation with Gabor is how the desperate need to convince skeptical colleagues stems from our earliest attachment patterns where authority figures' opinions determined our safety. This is why writing to prove ourselves to critics creates the very nervous system dysregulation our trauma work addresses. Mind-body unity isn't revolutionary new science—it's 2,600 years of wisdom that mainstream medicine repeatedly buries. When Harvard published research in 1939 showing emotional factors equal physical factors in disease, and recent studies demonstrate severe PTSD doubles ovarian cancer risk, the medical system's silence isn't about lack of evidence but about ideological blind spots. The revolution happening now shows people are ready for this conversation even when systems aren't. As chronic illness increases, people seek understanding of how stored trauma, nervous system dysregulation, and emotional factors create conditions for autoimmune disease, cancer, and ADHD decades later. This isn't about blaming parents or patients—it's about empowering us with agency to address root causes. External achievement doesn't heal unresolved trauma, but the gratitude when we stop trying to convince critics and instead empower people with truth makes it worthwhile. We're catching a wave we're also generating. The system will change when people demand it.

 

Resources/Guides:

• Visit biologyoftrauma.com for more resources on the Biology of Trauma® framework

• The Biology of Trauma book - Available now everywhere books are sold. Get your copy

• Foundational Journey - If you are ready to create your inner safety and shift your nervous system, join me and my team for this 6 week journey of practical somatic and mind-body inner child practices. Lay your foundation to do the deeper work safely and is the pre-requisite for becoming a Biology of Trauma® professional. 

• Check out Dr. Gabor Maté's book, The Myth of Normal. 

Related Episodes:

• Episode 39: How Does Trauma Manifest in the Body with Gabor Maté

• Episode 66: Gabor Maté: The Biology Piece We Have Missed In Trauma & Depression (Part 1)

• Episode 67: Gabor Maté: Healing Trauma and Chronic Illness Through Connection (Part 2)

 

Your host: Dr. Aimie Apigian, double board-certified physician (Preventive/Addiction Medicine) with master's degrees in biochemistry and public health, and author of the national bestselling book "The Biology of Trauma" (foreword by Gabor Maté) that transforms our understanding of how the body experiences and holds trauma. After foster-adopting a child during medical school sparked her journey, she desperately sought for answers that would only continue as she developed chronic health issues. Through her practitioner training, podcast, YouTube channel, and international speaking, she bridges functional medicine, attachment and trauma therapy, facilitating accelerated repair of trauma's impact on the mind, body and biology.

Disclaimer: By listening to this podcast, you agree not to use this podcast as medical, psychological, or mental health advice to treat any medical or psychological condition in yourself or others. This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your own physician, therapist, psychiatrist, or other qualified health provider regarding any physical or mental health issues you may be experiencing.