How do we deal with personal and societal trauma and pain in this moment of war, political polarization, increasing violence, domestic terror, and despair? Experts say we must look at the root causes of our pain, and yet the US is in the grip of a battle over exactly that — with efforts to ban books, censor news, cancel truth-tellers and hide history. How do we come together and overcome what the US surgeon general says is loneliness on an “epidemic” scale, when our society and culture work to separate us and tell us to heal alone? Today’s guests have experienced personal trauma and turned it into fuel for making social change. V, formerly known as Eve Ensler, is the co-founder of One Billion Rising and V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls. Her latest book, “Reckoning”, is out in paperback this month. Dr. Gabor Maté, a Holocaust survivor, is a retired physician and author of several groundbreaking books on healing personal and collective pain. His latest, written with his son Daniel Maté is “The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture”. What are the things making people feel desperate, broken and afraid? And what can we do to help one another look at what feels unbearable with a view to changing it? All that, plus V lays out the plans for V Day on February 14, where this year’s theme is Rise for Freedom, and a commentary from Laura on the power of feelings and the teachings of the late great queer author/activist Amber Hollibaugh.

Guests:

• Gabor Maté: Physician (retired), Public Speaker & Bestselling Author, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture

• V (formerly Eve Ensler): Playwright, Activist, Author, Founder V-Day, One Billion Rising & City of Joy

• “The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture” by Gabor Maté with Daniel Maté, Learn More Here

•  “Reckoning” by Eve Ensler, Learn More Here

Related Articles and Resources:

• The trauma doctor: Gabor Maté on happiness, hope and how to heal our deepest wounds, by Ellie Violet Bramley, The Guardian, April 2023, Read Here

• Confronting Illusions Can Help Heal Trauma, by Madhusree Mukerjee, Scientific American, January 2024, Read Here

• We all see the horrific videos of suffering in Gaza. We must not look away, by

V (formerly Eve Ensler), The Guardian January 3, 2024, Read Here

• ‘I was in a state of rage’: playwright V, on her long fight against violence, by Eva Wiseman, The Guardian, November 25, 2023, Read Here