The question that I would ask myself: "Is the person I am when drunk, and even the person I am when not drunk and pursuing or plotting and planning to get high, the same person I am who does not drink?"
Over the course of years of drinking, my behavior and thinking got worse and worse, to the point that I could not seperate the person from the behavior. This resulted in a lot of shame for me. The line grew thinner and thinner, but it was still there - on some level, I knew I was NOT the person I was behaving like. Alcohol dependency had no purpose in my life, other than to make me a miserable person.
This recognition helped me seperate the compulsion to drink from my real self.
This is my opinion and my opinion only: whether you choose to demonize it, approach it from a purely scientific standpoint, or call for help from a Higher Power, it must be seperated from you as a person, and you have to stare it down. You have to find a way to disassociate the compulsion and behavior from the person in a way that resonates for you. You MUST put it under the interrogation lights, stare at it, and make it blink first.
Whatever methodology or program one uses, the secret to your success lies in a strong desire to stop the behavior; you need to adopt a temporary suspension of disbelief and you need to quit the endless analysis of the methodology. You have to actually USE the principles you are learning.
No good thought or direction comes from a brain that is still using. You have to put down the bottle, give your brain some time to clear, and THEN the true work of getting on with you life can be made with a clear mind.
That was my experience. I did not use AVRT to stop drinking, but I can strongly identify with the need for disassocation in its methodology.