Dallas Bragg argues that approval addiction is more dangerous to sobriety than physical cravings. Constantly seeking external validation creates an invisible prison that drives emotional instability and relapse, even among men who think they've moved past wanting to use.
What most people don't comprehend is that approval addiction might be more dangerous to your sobriety than physical cravings. So let's look at the hidden prison of approval addiction. For decades before meth and years after, I lived in this unseen prison. I remember the rise and the fall of my emotions and my well-being based on the actions of everyone around me. It's smothering and it's a living hell. But now that I'm working with men in recovery, I can see their unseen prison bars, a jail cell hidden in their periphery, constantly seeking validation. Sleepless nights just from a strongly worded email, hours of productivity loss due to an unanswered text that's just sitting there waiting to be responded to and acknowledged, emotional highs and lows based on external affirmation from other people. We call it the approval trap. And it's the reason so many Intelligent, capable men keep relapsing even when they desperately don't want to anymore.
