Dallas BraggFormer crystal methamphetamine user, I help men who have sex with men break free from the addictive patterns associated with Chemsex. Currently expanding my expertise by seeking to become a Certified

What’s been your experience with chemsex recovery? Tell us about your experience in the comments!

2 Sept 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment of a chemsex recovery outreach video, the speaker clarifies the difference between numbing and dissociating. Numbing involves dulling painful feelings while remaining in contact with the experience, whereas dissociating seeks to completely escape it. The speaker explains that many individuals engaged in chemsex use substances such as alcohol and cannabis primarily to numb psychological pain stemming from shame about their sexuality, sexual urges, and related interests, rather than to dissociate. This distinction frames how substance use functions as a coping mechanism for emotional distress in the chemsex context.

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Now, for people that, you know, don't use these words more technically, sometimes it's easy to confuse dissociating and numbing. Yes. And, yeah, and in reality, numbing is not the same thing at all as dissociating, because when you're numbing something, you're still engaging and in contact with the experience you want to avoid, right? So when you numb pain, you don't get rid of it, you just make it more dull, right? Okay. Whereas if you're dissociating, you're trying to completely escape from it. Okay. If that makes sense. Yeah. So a lot of people in the chemsex world that use drugs like alcohol in combination with probably cannabis and things like that, they're probably more numbing and putting a positive spin on a negative experience. They have shame about their sexuality. They have shame about their sexual interests and urges. They have shame about this, that, and the other. So that shame is pain, psychological pain. And so they're using various substances to numb their pain.