Betsy GuerraBilingual Keynote Speaker, Psychotherapist/Coach, Author, Leadership Training and Life Coach Certification

Your brain believes EVERYTHING!!! #podcast

25 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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In this podcast excerpt, Betsy Guerra explains that the subconscious mind cannot distinguish between truth and fantasy. She argues that when a belief— even an imagined one— feels real to the subconscious, the brain generates corresponding emotional and physical responses. Using hypochondria as a vivid example, she shows how hearing about a disease can trigger a cascade of self‑diagnosed symptoms: a headache becomes interpreted as cancer, leading to more bodily sensations that the brain interprets as confirmation of the illness. This loop illustrates the brain’s protective instinct: it treats the belief as true and creates symptoms that reinforce the belief, thereby keeping the individual "safe" from perceived threats.

Chapters

The subconscious mind does not know how to differentiate truth from fantasy. So even if something is not real, the fact that it's real in your subconscious is enough for you to feel all the feels. Like, how many times have we been like hypochondriac because we heard about someone who had cancer and this is how they found out, and then, you know, they had a headache, and then we have a headache and we're like, we have cancer too. And then you start feeling weird stuff and it's confirming that you must— there must be something wrong with you. And then we create all these symptoms. And then because the brain is so smart and wants to always protect us and keep us safe, it thinks everything is true, and then it creates all these things that further emphasize or instill the belief that that is really happening.