Shedding Light on the Mental Health Blindspot: The Subconscious Mind

I remember that night like it was yesterday: 10 years ago, sitting in my first college dorm room alone at my desk, accompanied by darkness at 4 a.m., researching. I had just moved myself off-campus where I continued to starve, exercise, and self-harm with no accountability and no light in life. 

I had been in the thick of yet another bout of insomnia—bordering on manic—doing homework months in advance to pass the time, running on empty. That night, I had a passive, conscious thought. So I asked a faithful ally at the time, Google, typing, ‘Do I have an eating disorder?’ into the search bar.

Soon before long, I found myself stumbling into an on-campus meeting about eating disorders, completely panicked, lost, and alone. My attendance that day was informed by the wise, conscious, choosing brain. But despite what I learned, I remained an obedient victim to the voices in my head and out of options, thanks to the involuntary and dominant subconscious. 

This is a part of my story, but it’s not solely mine. See, every 52 minutes, someone loses their life to their eating disorder. In fact, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses. When coupled with other comorbidities—like depression, anxiety, and/or PTSD—mental illness is the perfect storm of chronic woundedness and agonizing, unresolved questions: Why? What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I fix this? Why can’t I just feel better?

Mental illness is the invisible struggle of invisible wounds, yet, a whopping 298 million people struggle with anxiety worldwide, followed closely by 246 million who battle depression. These numbers are unacceptable and could easily shift with greater implementation of root cause healing—using the subconscious mind.

Though the brain can be summarized with a simple statistic—it’s 5% conscious, 95% subconscious—the current mental healthcare system neglects the latter. This is not a ploy to substitute or replace the current model, but simply to include (and build) other and more effective integrative ones. 

The mental health conversation cannot (and should not) happen without looking at both the benefits and limitations of current protocols and systems. As it currently stands, mental illness is conventionally treated by and through a Western lens. And while the Western system is absolutely appropriate at times, it’s also notorious for treating symptoms, not root causes. 

Additionally, Western medicine is diagnostic in nature. Again, while this structure is helpful in moments, it can further complicate our relationships with ourselves, others, and the world at large. For that, Western medicine should always be an option, but perhaps not emphasized as the only option.

At the onset of mental health intervention, the Western world aids in establishing a medical team, which may include some variation of a primary care doctor, psychiatrist, therapist, and nutritionist depending. While this team is a perfect start for those in the beginning stages, care may not (and debatably should not) look the same years down the line. 

If it does—and it usually does—we have to ask, what isn’t working here? This treatment team doesn’t include sustainable, self-healing solutions, like subconscious emotional processing; methods where we can locate and upgrade root emotional causes. But the subconscious mind is the exact avenue to integrating memories that trigger mental distress in the first place. For those wondering how this happens, let’s break this down a bit.

In moments of unsafety, one’s nervous system cannot focus on surviving and thriving at the same time. So, until we’re in a safe space to heal, these incidents get stored subconsciously. These archived sensory experiences create electrical charges. As the charges accumulate, they create stagnancy, disease, inflammation, particular thought patterns, and compensatory behaviors. Unfortunately, the game of the mind is such that once these memories get stored subconsciously, they become harder to consciously access. 

The truth of the matter is that 100% of those who struggle with mental health are brilliant. And 0% of people who struggle with mental health consciously choose it. Yet, the struggle remains. Mental illness is a silent pandemic, and for that, many feel the answer is to simply talk about it. But talking about it is just the tip of the iceberg. 

While everyone’s battles are subjective, few experts, doctors, and Westernized systems acknowledge the root cause and origins of trauma as well as how to integrate them. My personal, professional, and academic experience fuels my mission to help those who struggle with depression, anxiety, trauma, and addiction heal on a cellular level by using a comprehensive system that implements over 14+ modalities from Eastern and Western medicine combined to achieve sustainable health and wellness.

Mental health is complex and therefore requires more unique options to help eradicate the dependency on a symptoms-based system. Too often, I see clients who have developed medical trauma stemming from others’ assessments of and limiting beliefs about their condition. Whether medical or non-medical, it is my belief that all health and wellness practitioners must revert back to the “do no harm” principle of the Hippocratic Oath and hold the unwavering truth for those who waver—that we are designed to heal no matter what.

May we never settle for limitations but work to find better solutions. Fewer questions, more answers. Less discouragement, more empowerment. To those struggling, I’m here to champion you until you can do the same for yourself—and you will get there. You are the light you seek; I’m just here to help you prove it. 

For more on all things subconscious healing, be sure to reach out to me. And remember, you are never, ever alone. 

About the Author

Name: Paige Frisone

Professional Title: Subconscious Health Practitioner & Professional Writer

Bio: Paige is a Subconscious Health Practitioner, published writer, poet, and psychosomatic speaker stationed in Boulder, CO. She’s the founder and owner of her integrative practice, Inner Realm Wellness LLC, where she aids clients around the globe in processing trauma and dis-ease on a subconscious and sustainable level. Her work is fueled by losing a decade of her life to anorexia, severe depression, anxiety, self-harm, and ineffective prescription meds.

Website: innerrealmwellness.life

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