When The Body Says No: Mind/Body Unity and the Stress-Disease Connection

Please note: this is a private event.

Based on the book When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress
(U.S. subtitle: Understanding the Stress-Disease Connection)

Stress is ubiquitous these days — it plays a role in the workplace, in the home, and virtually
everywhere that people interact. It can take a heavy toll unless it is recognized and managed
effectively and insightfully.

Western medicine, in theory and practice, tends to treat mind and body as separate entities.
This separation, which has always gone against ancient human wisdom, has now been
demonstrated by modern science to be not only artificial, but false. The brain and body systems
that process emotions are intimately connected with the hormonal apparatus, the nervous
system, and in particular the immune system. Emotional stress, especially of the hidden kind
that people are not aware of, undermines immunity, disrupts the body’s physiological milieu and
can prepare the ground for disease. There is strong evidence to suggest that in nearly all
chronic conditions, from cancer, ALS, or multiple sclerosis to autoimmune conditions like
rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease or Alzheimer’s, hidden stress is a major
predisposing factor. In an important sense, disease in an individual can be seen as the “end
point” of a multigenerational emotional process. If properly understood, these conditions can
provide important openings for compassion and self-awareness, which in turn are major tools
in recovery and healing.

Dr. Maté’s presentation includes research findings, compelling and poignant anecdotes from
his own extensive experience in family practice and palliative care, and illuminating biographies
of famous people such as athlete Lance Armstrong, the late comedienne Gilda Radner, or
famed baseball legend Lou Gehrig. The presentation is based on When The Body Says No, a
best-selling book that has been translated into more than thirty languages on five continents.