Dallas Bragg argues meth doesn't cause loneliness but temporarily solves it by dissolving internal barriers and letting disowned parts of yourself surface at once. Users chase that sudden wholeness, not just the high, which is why addiction takes hold.
So let's talk about what meth was solving. Meth didn't cause your loneliness. For most of it, it was our most sophisticated solution to it. Because in a high, that exile ended. The fragmentation dissolved. Every part that had been locked away, the sexual self, the tender self, the part that wanted to be desired exactly as it was, the gay part, the part that had been told it was too much. Suddenly, everybody has permission to exist. Come on out, guys. Nothing matters right now. I'm high as fuck. And all at once, without any apology. That experience is what you're addicted to. That experience of sudden wholeness is what the high is actually delivering to you. This high was not just delivering dopamine. It's delivering a reunion of all your parts. You felt, maybe for the first time in years or ever, Like all of you was welcome somewhere, like the loneliness had finally, mercifully stopped.
