Gabor Mate has always believed that the roots of addiction go all the way back to a person’s childhood. With his years of research on the human brain and his vast clinical experiences, he claims that the source of addiction lies in the brain's chemical balance. For Mate, the initial five years of life, including the nine months spent in the womb, are the chief dictators of addiction. Gabor has always emphasized the role of stress, abuse, lack of attachment, and love in childhood, with an inability to process dopamine and endorphins in the brain. These neurochemical deficiencies in the brain lead to addictions and force such people to self-medicate to replace the missing neurostimulation.