Paul Conti, M.D.: trauma, suicide, community, and self-compassion

**Peter Attia** (0:04)
Hey, everyone, welcome to The Peter Attia Drive. I'm your host, Peter Attia.
The Drive is a result of my hunger for optimizing performance, health, longevity, critical thinking, along with a few other obsessions along the way. I've spent the last several years working with some of the most successful top-performing individuals in the world. And this podcast is my attempt to synthesize what I've learned along the way to help you live a higher quality, more fulfilling life. If you enjoy this podcast, you can find more information on today's episode and other topics at peterattiamd.com.
Welcome to this week's episode of The Drive. My guest this week is one of my dearest friends, Dr. Paul Conti. Paul is a brilliant psychiatrist. In fact, I often refer to him as the single best psychiatrist I've ever come in contact with. And I've met some many very sharp people over the years. I've long wanted to have Paul on the podcast. I've always wanted to interview Paul just in general, because there's not that many people who I find myself having discussions with, either than I think to myself.
How can this discussion be shared with others? And throughout this interview, you'll hear us even comment to that effect, which is, God, it's almost like we're not even talking in front of microphones. This is exactly the kind of conversation we find ourselves having so often.
Paul's a very special person. He doesn't get into great detail, but his life has been shaped by a number of really, really tragic events, a couple of which he alludes to here, many of which he does not. In fact, some of the most tragic events in Paul's life, he does not allude to, but I think the point that comes across here is that Paul is one of the most empathetic, kind, giving individuals, and his understanding of the human condition is really unparalleled. So in keeping with one of the general themes here, which is longevity, of which healthspan and happiness are important components, we go really deep on this topic. We talk about what is meant by trauma. Many people just think of trauma as, you know, you got hit by a car or something like that, but we get really into emotional trauma.
We talk a lot about shame, which is the result of trauma and what it ends up doing. We talk a lot about depression, suicide and a number of other topics that are closely related to this. I do think at times this is a little bit heavy, but you know, we really don't get into any of the technical stuff that I thought we might get into in large part, just because I think there was so much to talk about without getting into the neurobiology. I do think that Paul and I will need to sit down again in the future and get a lot deeper on some of those other topics that I also thought would be interesting, and I suspect a number of you will find very interesting. So again, this is not a deep podcast from a technical standpoint, though we do get into some of the heavier stuff. Unfortunately, Paul is not someone you're really gonna find much about on social media. Paul is someone whom can be contacted through his office, of course, and will provide that contact information for folks who do want to reach out to his office. But the good news is Paul is really considering writing a book. And after we finished recording this podcast, we spent another 20 minutes talking about the book he wants to write. And the gist of it is the book is exactly about the stuff we talked about today. So I couldn't be more encouraging of Paul doing this. And I think that the world will be a better place for that. So I hope you enjoy this episode half as much as I enjoyed listening to Paul talk about all of these things. And I think almost anybody will find something of great value in this episode.
Hey, Paul, how are you, man?

**Paul Conti** (3:50)
I'm doing well, Peter. Thank you for having me.

**Peter Attia** (3:52)
You're a super trooper here. You have laryngitis.

**Paul Conti** (3:55)
I do indeed have laryngitis. I am persevering and I appreciate your patience in persevering with me.

**Peter Attia** (4:01)
Well, luckily, I guess luckily is the wrong word, but most people here don't know what you sound like normally, so they probably won't even know that you're that. I'm only bringing it up because I know you're straining a lot to speak, but this is such an important topic. We didn't really want to put it off, but the two of us were so busy, even though we're in New York often, that we could both have a night when we don't have something else to do, I think makes this worth it. So thank you.