Originally Posted by
failedtaper If I am to understand TU, the term "sober" doesn't have much if any meaning within AVRT? Abstinent is the preferred term is my take on this.
This is correct. Abstinence is the preferred term.
Although the dictionary definition of "
sobriety" is "the state of being
sober," and the definition of "
sober" is "not affected by alcohol; not drunk," the term has become a loaded word. This is why you get these threads on this forum about what a "relapse" is, or what "real sobriety" is. You'll also hear things along the lines of "I was just maintaining my abstinence, but I wasn't really sober," as if sobriety were another plane of existence.
Within AVRT, this is rubbish. Recovery is secure, permanent abstinence; nothing else. Therefore, abstinence is what counts, not some nebulous definition of "sobriety" that nobody can agree on. If the term is used, it means not drunk. It goes without saying that because of this, within the AVRT paradigm, there is also no such thing as a "dry drunk." :-)