Recovery Programs
The Institute for Applied Dignity administers three active programs for individuals at various stages of a simp pattern. Enrollment requires acknowledgment that the situation is, in fact, what it looks like.
National Simp Registry
A confidential self-reporting system for incidents of dignity-compromising attachment behavior.
The National Simp Registry was established in 2026 to provide individuals with a formal mechanism for acknowledging and documenting dignity-related behavioral incidents. Registration is voluntary, confidential, and processed entirely within your own conscience. No external parties are notified. This is between you and you.
Registerable Incident Categories
The following incident types are accepted for registry documentation. Check all that have occurred within the preceding 90 days.
| Category Code | Incident Description | Severity |
|---|---|---|
| NSR-01 | Replied within 30 seconds on multiple occasions despite strategic delay intent | Mild |
| NSR-02 | Provided financial assistance, food, transportation, or services not requested | Moderate |
| NSR-03 | Ignored documented red flags and continued engagement | Moderate |
| NSR-04 | Accepted "wyd" as an adequate expression of romantic interest | Moderate |
| NSR-05 | Provided ongoing emotional labor and motivational support to someone in a relationship with another person | High |
| NSR-06 | Drafted and/or sent a paragraph exceeding 300 words to someone who had not requested it | High |
| NSR-07 | Compromised personal schedule, standards, or values to maintain access to inconsistent attention | Critical |
Dignity Restoration Program
A structured 7-day protocol for interrupting active simp patterns and restoring baseline self-regard.
The Dignity Restoration Program was developed in response to demand from individuals who recognized a pattern but lacked a structured pathway out of it. The protocol is seven days. It is not complicated. Complexity is not the issue. Compliance is the issue.
7-Day Recovery Protocol
- Day 1
Delete the Paragraph
Locate the drafted message, the half-finished note, the unsent voice memo, or the response you composed in the Notes app. Delete it. Do not read it one more time first. Reading it one more time first is how it gets sent.
- Day 2
Mute the Stories
Mute their Instagram, TikTok, and any other platform where you are currently monitoring their activity. You are not unfollowing them. You are removing passive information intake that serves no functional purpose and measurable emotional disruption.
- Day 3
Stop Checking Active Status
Disable active status indicators where possible. Remove any applications from your home screen whose primary use in the past 30 days has been passive monitoring. A green dot is not information. It is a stimulus response loop.
- Day 4
Remember Hobbies
Identify one activity you engaged in before this attachment began that you have since reduced or abandoned. Do that activity for a minimum of one hour today. Not to distract yourself. To remind yourself that you are a person with content.
- Day 5
Consult a Normal Friend
Identify one friend who does not know the subject of the attachment. Describe the situation to them from the beginning. Listen to their face. You do not need to take their advice. You need to hear what your situation sounds like when described to someone who does not share your optimism.
- Day 6
Rebuild the Schedule
Reconstruct the parts of your calendar you had cleared, adjusted, or left open in case they were available. Fill them. Not as a performance. Fill them because your time has value independent of their interest in it.
- Day 7
Become Actually Unavailable
Today the goal is not to appear unavailable. The goal is to be genuinely unavailable because you are doing something that matters to you. The difference between performing distance and actually having a life is that one of them is sustainable.
Note on Relapse: If, at any point during the protocol, a text is sent or a paragraph is drafted, you do not start over. You continue from the current day. Perfection is not the standard. Direction is the standard.
Friends Against Simping
Resources for concerned peers witnessing active rationalization behavior in someone they care about.
Has someone you care about recently said "I know how it looks, but..." for the third time about the same situation? You may be a witness to advanced rationalization behavior. This program provides guidance for navigating peer intervention without damaging the relationship or becoming the villain in their story about the recovery.
Signs Your Friend May Need Support
- They have explained the same situation more than twice with materially different framings
- They have asked "what do you think they meant?" about a message you found self-explanatory
- They have cancelled plans with you to remain available for someone who did not confirm plans with them
- They use the phrase "I just feel like if I explain myself one more time..."
- They have begun attributing the other party's behavior to external circumstances on their behalf
- When you express concern, they defend the person rather than address the concern
Intervention Script
Use the following as a starting point. Adapt for your friend's specific situation. The goal is not to be right. The goal is to create one moment of perspective that they can access when you are not in the room.
"I'm going to say something and I want you to know it comes from a place of caring about you specifically. You have described this situation to me [X] times. The situation has not changed. What you're hoping for hasn't happened yet and the pattern suggests it may not.
I am not telling you what to feel. I'm telling you I've been watching you spend energy on someone who hasn't matched it, and it's been hard to watch.
You don't have to do anything right now. I just wanted you to hear that someone who knows you and likes you thinks you deserve more than you're currently accepting. That's all."
What Not to Do
- Do not tell them the person is a bad person. They will defend them and you will become the issue
- Do not give ultimatums. They will choose the attachment. This is not a judgment; it is a documented pattern
- Do not express frustration. Frustration reads as judgment, and judgment causes retreat
- Do not repeat the intervention more than once. Say it. Let it land. Be available when they're ready
- Do not cut off the friendship over this. They need you there after