Dallas Bragg argues that calling relapse a moral failure intensifies shame and fuels addiction. He proposes reframing relapse as a gateway to transformation instead, suggesting this shift in narrative can break the cycle of self-punishment and open pathways to lasting recovery.
So relapse is the unexpected gateway to your transformation. Most of us approach relapse with a narrative handed down to us that it represents moral failure, weakness, or some fundamental character defect. This story is why the inner critic goes into overtime unleashing the negative self-talk, because it's just supporting what you already believe. The label relapse— you label relapse bad. So the inner critic punishes you. When you— and when you feel punished, you use again to escape the shame and quiet the voices. That's the addiction spiral. What if we've been looking at relapse all wrong?
