He has a background in family practice and a special interest in childhood development, trauma [ 1 ] and potential lifelong impacts on physical and mental health, including autoimmune disease , cancer , attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD , [ 2 ] and addictions. He has written five books exploring topics including ADHD, stress, developmental psychology, and addiction.
He claims this trauma of "abandonment, rage, and despair" continues to manifest itself in his adult life, leading to similar altercations when he perceives a threat of abandonment, especially from his wife. After working as a high school English and literature teacher for several years, he returned to the University of British Columbia to obtain his M. For 12 years, he was the staff physician at Portland Hotel, a residence and resource centre in downtown Vancouver.
Many of his patients had co-occurring mental health and substance use concerns, in addition to chronic health concerns, such as HIV. He worked in harm reduction clinics in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. He partnered with a Peruvian Shipibo ayahuasquero traditional shamanic healer and began leading multi-day retreats for addiction treatment, including ones in a Coast Salish First Nations community that were the subject of an observational study by health researchers from the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia.
He underlines the importance of relations and social attachment for learning and health. His ideas are consistent with a trauma-informed care framework. Without addressing the root cause of the pain, a person may try to stop but will ultimately crave further relief and be prone to relapse. By this definition, many things in modern culture have the potential to become addictive such as gambling , sex , food , work , social media , and drugs.
In the course of the interview, 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 Contents move to sidebar hide.
