In this YouTube monologue, Dallas Bragg recounts preparing a needle for an injection (slamming) and asks why he does it to himself. He cites research where men who slam describe underlying pain, trauma, loneliness, and chronic distress as the primary drivers, not just the pursuit of a high or party. The study shows that stepping back from slamming is facilitated not by willpower but by genuine connections with non‑using friends, safe spaces free of shame, and therapeutic relationships that replace what the drug was masking. Bragg urges viewers to confront what they are trying to avoid feeling, and offers pathways to healing: seeking a credentialed therapist, working with him, or joining his group coaching program, inviting comments with the word “group.”
Chapters
You know, I can remember preparing the needle for the slam and asking myself, why are you doing this to yourself? And if you're slamming, people around you probably think it's about the high, it's about the party, it's about the sex. Maybe you do too. But I want to tell you what the research actually found, because it might be the thing that you've never let yourself say out loud. They asked men who slam, to talk in their own words about why. And underneath the pleasure, underneath the rush, almost every story had the same root: pain. One man described his life before the slam as a descent into hell. Accident, assault, getting kicked out, and then somebody handed him a way to not feel for a while. That's not a party, that's an anesthetic. The study found that slamming works as a coping strategy for loneliness, for trauma, for the kind of chronic distress a lot of us carried long before the first needle. And here's the part that matters if you're questioning it right now. When the men in this study talked about what helped them step back, it was not willpower. It was connection, a relationship with somebody who doesn't use. Real friends outside the scene who they felt good with, spaces where they could be honest and not feel shame and not feel judgment, relationships that gave them something the slam was standing in for. And that's what made stepping away feel possible. So if you've been telling yourself that you just like the party, I want you to ask a really hard question. What are you trying not to do? to feel, because that's the thing that actually heals. And you don't have to figure it out alone. You can work with me if you'd like, or find a specialist, find a credentialed therapist. If you do want to work with me, comment the word group below and we'll give you information about our next group coaching.
