I guess it depends on the type of distraction, for me. If I have physical distractions there around me when I'm playing, and slow play is certainly tops on the list - it's hard for me to really care about my score. Obviously being around others who really don't care that I'm trying to concentrate - I might as well clock out and go home, because nothing enjoyable is happening from a golf perspective.
But if there's something going on in my personal life, something I'm having to deal with on a fairly regular basis - I found golf to be great therapy. If I wanted to play as well as I could play, and obviously I did, then that meant I had to block out everything else going on outside of my round of golf that day to give myself the best chance to play well. So in that way, used as an escape I guess you could say, it actually helped me to take my mind off of things and get out to play.
Golf can be a great distraction to help get us through some shitty times.