Originally Posted by
failedtaper 
I think I've got the ME part, the Beast part, and the Addictive Voice part sorted out, which all deal with psyche. But where does one put the physical part?
The Beast
is the physical part, the part that is actually generating addictive desire. The Addictive Voice is its human voice, the cognitive and emotional expression of that desire.
Originally Posted by
failedtaper Does AVRT deal at all with how to deal with the physical part of abstinence? I see AVRT as the preferred method to STAY quit, but it's the early days that are the downfall of many. I mean the physical part. A lot of why it took me so long to quit was I was using not to get high, but to not feel sick, which was all I seemed to feel any more.
Yes, and many get to this point. I myself had been drinking straight whiskey all day every day for two years at the end, and had become physically dependent on it. RR does have on its web site a "Physician Advice for Withdrawal From Alcohol and Other Drugs" article, and the book does recommend medical detox for those who need it.
However, AVRT itself does not make any distinction between the source of the desire, whether physical or psychological, attributing both to the same source. Physical withdrawal is (normally) more intense, but remember, at the end of the day, psychology is biological. This is why psychiatric medications, as well as recreational drugs, work to alter psychology, and why lobotomies result in such drastic personality changes.
Originally Posted by
failedtaper In my break from opiates, I made a decision early on that my new identity was that of "A Non-Opiate User". Period.
This sounds reasonable and permanent enough to me, but only you can truly know if it is full-proof. Does "period" mean that you won't ever change your mind? While I try to stick to "classic AVRT" when discussing it, and there are indeed some key aspects, such as a personal commitment to lifetime abstinence, AVRT is not deep psychology. As long as you get the job done, that is fine.
One example is the "counting days" thing. AVRT will naturally expose the dual implications of this practice by asking how your Beast interprets counting days as opposed to how you interpret it, just as with anything else. Does that necessarily mean that if you celebrate the day that you got your act together that you are going to explode into drunkenness, though?
Of course not.
PS: READ THE BOOK ! 