Originally Posted by
DrivenHeart85 But you have to become some level of dependent upon this book if you're going to "get" AVRT. You have to depend on it enough to allow it the opportunity to de-program you from AA. That breeds dependence upon the author's opinions. That's what I hate about all the options to get over your alcohol addiction, they all need you to be 100% dependent upon them and if you're not, they'll claim you're doing it wrong. I'd just like to be independent, to take some and leave some. That's all.
AVRT is just the lore of self-recovery in a brief educational format, and most people figure it out on their own, without ever hearing the magic words, Rational Recovery or AVRT. Jack Trimpey is just presenting his findings based on his experience with and observation of addicted and recovered people, but this doesn't mean that if you don't follow his recommendations exactly, that you will fail.
I have read
RR: The New Cure,
The Art of AVRT, much of the
Journal of Rational Recovery, both "crash courses," and many threads from the original RR BBS. I posted many tips on here gleamed from my reading that I found useful, but to be honest, it took a while for AVRT to "click" with me. What I found useful may not necessarily be everything you need, just as some people who posted on the BBS had trouble with things I did not.
What, you think I don't know the feeling of waking up hungover and saying
"never again!" and then doing it again that same evening? Or the times I quit for months and started up again? Or quitting smoking 157 times, once for over two years and then going back to it again? What makes this last time different? I can't explain it, but I just know it is.
Yes, at times, I read the material and thought
"Trimpey, you ****head, what does this have to do with quitting?" and I don't agree with everything he writes. Ultimately, I believe his chief contribution is spelling out clearly that there really is no help for you, and that you have to figure out how your own Addictive Voice works.
Trimpey has often referred to AVRT as a seed idea, or a
meme that grows on its own. Much of this is trial and error, and some learn slower than others. Once you do, though, you will know that you are free. In my case, the Beast is finally finished. I have ITs number, and I am a recognition machine on autopilot. In short, I am powerless to drink.