Originally Posted by
SunshineSally 
" I'm confused by this, I thought AVRT was a cognitive psychology of sorts. What does he mean? Is he saying most methods encourage the idea that once an addict, always an addict?"
Me, too, I always thought of RR as a type of cognitive therapy. Changing wrong thinking to right thinking essentially.
He was referring to CBT, and specifically, REBT, where you learn to be more self-accepting. The Addictive Voice will just use this as another reason to keep drinking/using by avoiding guilt. For example, "Well, I trashed the family car, but I am not really an awful person. After all, I am not my behavior, etc, etc."
AVRT is not REBT, as AVRT violates practically all of the REBT axioms. There is the absolutist perfectionism (ie, the Big Plan), recognizing the Beast as a rational entity, the (I/It) split, and finally the concept of moral judgment. Also, with AVRT, you don't change your thinking; you recognize the Addictive Voice, and then you objectify it as ego-alien (not you).