Dr. Don WoodResolving Your Trauma-Based Challenges So You Can Unlock Peak Performance

Dr. Don Wood on “The Best Business Podcast: Break Free” podcast by David Mansilla

27 Mar 2023 · 0 min

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This is a short transcript excerpt of Dr. Don Wood speaking on a podcast about how the subconscious mind seeks immediate relief from pain. He explains that the subconscious operates in the present and thus favors actions (e.g., drug or alcohol use) that stop pain immediately, because it cannot perceive future consequences or past context.

So the brain will always try to figure out a way to protect you. And because your subconscious mind operates in the present, when does it want the pain to stop?
Now. So when people take drugs or alcohol, they stop the pain now. So it solved the problem. Because your subconscious has no connection to time, it can't see consequences to an action.
Right. Because it doesn't see a second from now or a second before.
So this is solving the problem now. So when people talk about suicide, right, isn't suicide sabotage? I go, no, it's not. Suicide is a solution to pain. It's not about wanting to die. It's about wanting to stop the pain. Stop the pain? Yeah. And so, because if I take my life right now, did I accomplish the target? Yes, I stopped the pain. The subconscious mind doesn't see the consequence to death. It's just a solution to the problem. So when I work with people who say, well, I have suicidal thoughts, I'll say, I don't believe that you want to die. I believe that you've got pain and you haven't figured out a way to stop the pain.