The AfterMeth: Gay Men Recovering from Crystal Methamphetamine and Chemsex Addiction

Send us a textSupplimental Study Guide:  https://www.drdallasbragg.com/newsletters/blog/posts/sociologyIn this episode, host Dallas Bragg sits down with Dr. Chris Conner, Stephen O Murray Faculty in Residence at Michigan State University. Dr. Conner has taught Drugs and Society for 7 years, and shares insights from research on Chemsex use in the gay community. He identifies two particularly vulnerable age groups: 15-24 year-olds and those 40 and older. For younger men, substance use often provides a way to manage anxieties around coming out, potential homelessness, and navigating sex in a society uncomfortable discussing gay intimacy. For older gay men, crystal meth becomes a response to feeling invisible and sexually undesirable after turning 40—a pattern that traces back to when meth first entered the gay club scene in the 1990s and 2000s, affecting this generation when they were in their twenties.Dr. Christopher T. ConnerAssistant Professor of Sociology, University of Missouri-ColumbiaStephen O. Murray Scholar-In-Residence at Michigan State University📧 [email protected]📞 573-882-8331🌐 www.chrisconner.net Resources: Party Boi Documentary https://partyboidocumentary.com/ Chemsex (Vice Documentary). https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5073738/ Do I sound Gay https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3997238/ Tea Room Trade https://www.amazon.com/Tearoom-Trade-Impersonal-public-Observations/dp/0202302830 Something for the weekend: Life in The Chemsex Underworld https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/36002677-something-for-the-weekend  The complex social, cultural and psychological drivers of the ‘chemsex’ experiences of men who have sex with men...  https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1422775/full  Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Behavioral Health: Results from the 2021 2022 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health.  https://web.archive.org/web/20250125022513/https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/fileThe AfterMeth: Join our Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theaftermeth/ Dr. Dallas Bragg Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drdallasbragg Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drdallasbragg/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drdallasbragg YouTube: The Aftermeth Podcast X: https://twitter.com/Drdallasbragg Free online course to End the Relapse Cycle: https://www.drdallasbragg.com/offers/e7c2Eo22/checkout Meth-Free Blueprint EBOOK: https://www.drdallasbragg.com/offers/o8qFhK5i/checkout

Send us a textSupplemental Study Guide:https://www.drdallasbragg.com/newsletters/blog/posts/matterIn this compelling episode of The AfterMeth Podcast, host Dr. Dallas Bragg sits down with Giulio, an Italian activist who holds the unique titles of Mr. Gay Italy 2010, Mr. Gay Europe 2011, and Mr. Gay World 2025. Giulio shares his personal journey through chemsex addiction, revealing how what began as controlled recreational drug use with his partner evolved into problematic use following life disruptions including COVID-19, job loss, and a painful breakup. As a neurodivergent person diagnosed with autism and ADHD, Giulio explains how substances like G and mephedrone initially helped him overcome anxiety around casual sex and quieted his overthinking mind, creating what he describes as a "psychological addiction" that extended beyond the biological dependence.The conversation takes a hopeful turn as Giulio discusses his recovery process, emphasizing the importance of curiosity over condemnation when understanding addiction. He shares insights from his intensive study of neuroscience and the dopamine reward system, particularly Dr. Anna Lembke's concept of the "30-day rule" for brain restoration. Currently working with Controlling Chemsex, Giulio openly addresses the challenges of his "second puberty"—relearning sober sex and intimacy after four years without it—while grieving the confidence substances once provided. He advocates for reducing stigma around chemsex by recognizing addiction as a broader societal issue affecting connection and wellbeing, using his platform in the Mr. Gay World competition to courageously bring this critical topic to the global stage.Find Giulio here: IG: @julio_mrgayworld2025Controlling Chemsex: https://controllingchemsex.com/The AfterMeth: Join our Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theaftermeth/ Dr. Dallas Bragg Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drdallasbragg Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drdallasbragg/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drdallasbragg YouTube: The Aftermeth Podcast X: https://twitter.com/Drdallasbragg Free online course to End the Relapse Cycle: https://www.drdallasbragg.com/offers/e7c2Eo22/checkout Meth-Free Blueprint EBOOK: https://www.drdallasbragg.com/offers/o8qFhK5i/checkout

Send us a textSupplemental Study Guide: https://www.drdallasbragg.com/newsletters/blog/posts/interventionIn this powerful conversation, Dr. Dallas Bragg interviews renowned interventionist Brad Lamm, who has conducted over 1,300 interventions and brings both professional expertise and lived experience with methamphetamine addiction. Lamm shares his journey of struggling with meth from 1986 through 2002, highlighting the profound shame and isolation that often accompanies addiction in the LGBTQ+ community—particularly for those raised in evangelical environments that pathologized their identities. The discussion explores harm reduction and moderation management approaches as alternatives to abstinence-only models, with Lamm emphasizing the importance of setting realistic, achievable goals that build self-trust rather than perpetuating the all-or-nothing thinking that often traps people in cycles of relapse and shame. He introduces the "more good, less bad" framework and stresses that with a 90% relapse rate in the first year for chemsex recovery, meeting people where they're at is essential.The heart of the episode focuses on practical guidance for family members who feel helpless watching a loved one struggle with addiction. Lamm introduces his "invitational intervention" method, which challenges the traditional surprise-ambush model by openly inviting the person to their own intervention—a gathering where loved ones share what they've witnessed, their hopes, and their fears in a compassionate, non-judgmental way. He helps families distinguish between healthy and unhealthy codependency, encouraging them to audit the financial and relational costs of their current support patterns while creating boundaries rooted in love rather than punishment. Throughout the conversation, both Lamm and Bragg emphasize viewing addiction through the lens of brain chemistry and trauma rather than moral failure, offering families permission to trust that their compassionate intervention is unlikely to make things worse—and that if they're asking themselves whether it's time to seek help, the answer is almost always yes.The AfterMeth: Join our Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theaftermeth/ Dr. Dallas Bragg Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drdallasbragg Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drdallasbragg/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drdallasbragg YouTube: The Aftermeth Podcast X: https://twitter.com/Drdallasbragg Free online course to End the Relapse Cycle: https://www.drdallasbragg.com/offers/e7c2Eo22/checkout Meth-Free Blueprint EBOOK: https://www.drdallasbragg.com/offers/o8qFhK5i/checkout

Send us a textSupplimental Study Guide: https://www.drdallasbragg.com/newsletters/blog/posts/abstinenceIn this powerful episode, host Dr. Dallas Bragg sits down with addiction expert Dr. Adi Jaffe, bestselling author of "The Abstinence Myth" and "Unhooked," to challenge conventional recovery approaches. Dr. Jaffe argues that the traditional recovery system is fundamentally broken, pointing out that fewer than 10% of people struggling with addiction access help, and 90% of those who enter 12-step programs leave within a year. The conversation explores alternative metrics for measuring recovery success beyond consecutive days of sobriety, including percentage of days abstinent, quality of life improvements, and overall well-being. Dr. Jaffe shares his perspective that substances are merely endpoints—tools we use to cope with underlying pain, shame, and unexamined beliefs—rather than the root problem itself.The episode dives deep into the importance of reframing relapse as a learning opportunity rather than catastrophic failure, emphasizing that recovery is about gradual progress and reducing harm, not achieving instant perfection. Dr. Jaffe introduces his SPARROW model and EAT cycle (Explore, Accept, Transform) as frameworks for understanding triggers and processing difficult emotions and past behaviors, particularly the shame many gay men carry around hypersexual or taboo experiences during chemsex. Both speakers emphasize that true recovery involves confronting our deepest darkness with compassion, challenging the beliefs we've internalized about ourselves, and recognizing that we're all working with "delusions"—the question is whether we choose beliefs that serve our healing or keep us trapped in shame. The overarching message: recovery is a journey home to self, and it's worth the hard work to discover the life waiting on the other side.You can reach Dr. Adi Jaffe here:Instagram: dradijaffeHis book “Unhooked”:https://www.adijaffe.com/unhookedWebsite: https://www.adijaffe.comAdi’s Recovery Program: https://www.igntd.comThe AfterMeth: Join our Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theaftermeth/ Dr. Dallas Bragg Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drdallasbragg Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drdallasbragg/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drdallasbragg YouTube: The Aftermeth Podcast X: https://twitter.com/Drdallasbragg Free online course to End the Relapse Cycle: https://www.drdallasbragg.com/offers/e7c2Eo22/checkout Meth-Free Blueprint EBOOK: https://www.drdallasbragg.com/offers/o8qFhK5i/checkout

Send us a textSupplimental Study Guidehttps://www.drdallasbragg.com/newsletters/blog/posts/comedyIn this episode, host Dr. Dallas Bragg welcomes Alex Parsons, a standup comedian, improviser, and actor from Asheville, North Carolina, who shares his raw and honest journey through crystal meth addiction and recovery. Alex, who identifies as neurodivergent with an ADHD diagnosis (and a previous misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder), traces his path from his first use in Boston in 2010 through years of active addiction that included psychosis, the "Tina Honeymoon" phenomenon of intense early connections while using, and the isolating cycle of chasing that initial high. After moving to Asheville in hopes of leaving his addiction behind, Alex discovered standup comedy at an open mic night just one week after arriving—a pivotal moment that created a crucial tether to reality and gave him something beyond substance use to commit to, even as he continued using for two more years.The turning point came in August 2024 when Alex hit rock bottom after gambling away his rent money and spending five days in active addiction. Standing on a bridge contemplating suicide, an anxious thought about potentially harming a random cyclist saved his life, leading him to contact his boss and enter Oasis Recovery Center for 35 days. Now in active recovery, Alex uses standup comedy not just as personal healing but as a platform for accountability and community dialogue about addiction in the queer population. He emphasizes the importance of doing the therapeutic work privately before bringing stories to the stage, noting that comedy provides psychological distance from trauma and decreases shame—both for himself and his audiences—while being careful not to glorify war stories. His approach demonstrates how creativity can serve as both recovery tool and public service, stripping addiction of its power through truth-telling wrapped in laughter.The AfterMeth: Join our Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theaftermeth/ Dr. Dallas Bragg Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drdallasbragg Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drdallasbragg/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drdallasbragg YouTube: The Aftermeth Podcast X: https://twitter.com/Drdallasbragg Free online course to End the Relapse Cycle: https://www.drdallasbragg.com/offers/e7c2Eo22/checkout Meth-Free Blueprint EBOOK: https://www.drdallasbragg.com/offers/o8qFhK5i/checkout