Daniel Maté

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Daniel Maté is a Canadian composer, lyricist and playwright for musical theatre whose honors include the Edward Kleban Prize, a Jonathan Larson Grant and the ASCAP Foundation Cole Porter Award. He co-wrote The Myth of Normal with his father, Gabor Maté, and has co-led workshops with him on relationships between parents and adult children since 2016.

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The Myth of Normal

Gabor Maté is a Hungarian-Canadian physician who practiced family and palliative medicine for decades and spent twelve years treating patients with addictions in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside; his son and co-author, Daniel Maté, is an award-winning composer and lyricist. In The Myth of Normal, Gabor Maté argues that much of the chronic illness spreading through wealthy societies is rooted in trauma, stress and a culture at odds with basic human needs. Moving from biology to childhood, addiction and economics, he makes the case for a more connected idea of health.

A note on context: some researchers, such as psychologist Nick Haslam, argue that the book overstates the evidence linking trauma to illness and downplays genetics. In 2023, ethicists also criticized Maté for publicly “diagnosing” Prince Harry with ADD during a livestreamed interview; Maté framed it as a response to stress, not a disease.

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