Gabor Mate

In many children—and I was certainly one—early reactions like these become embedded in the nervous system, mind, and body, playing havoc with future relationships.

The home becomes a place where we unwittingly re-create, as I did, scenarios reminiscent of those that wounded us when we were small.

It was a multi-layered scenario. As usual, the most public layer was also the most superficial one

“Extreme suppression of anger” was the most commonly identified characteristic of breast cancer patients in a 1974 British study

What you’ve assumed toward your dad is a maternal role. Which is also why you’ve been taken for granted. Mother is taken for granted. Mother is like the world—she’s just supposed to be there and provide.”

Adults with a history of troubled childhoods may not encounter more serious losses than others do, but their ability to cope will have been impaired by their upbringing

People would tell me as a child how mature I was. I always thought I was, because in that mode you can seem highly mature. But then when I look at myself emotionally, I’ve been very immature. I’m fifty-eight now and still trying to grow up

I’ve always said that I’m not worried my kids will be angry with me, I’m worried they won’t be angry enough

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

In short, for cancer causation it is not enough that DNA damage occur: also necessary are failure of DNA repair and/or an impairment of regulated cell death. Stress and the repression of emotion can negatively affect both of those processes