Originally Posted by
reefbreakbda 
Anyway, I found it interesting and recognised I could employ it to avoid being manipulated, avoid provoking the alcoholic whilst conveying the harsh reality!
I'm sorry to post twice but I wanted to come back to this.
I don't think it conveys the harsh reality. It enables us to get it off our chest in a way that keeps the conversation somewhat peaceful because you are right, it is much less likely to provoke them. It does nothing to get them to see any harsh realities. IME a brain in active addiction is going to break from reality in order to protect the addiction. They are not particularly interested in our reality.
I also didn't find that it worked in anyway to avoid manipulation but maybe (probably) that is because I was very confused and 'co-dependent' so I was not in a good place.