Originally Posted by
wpainterw 
As I see it AVRT is not really inconsistent with AA, at least insofar as it focusses on a phenomenon which is quite well accepted now in scientific circles, namely that there is a primitive part of the brain which may become a major obstacle in recovery, which may send subconscious messages to the more rational parts of the brain to get the addict to resume drinking. If this is the AVRT message it is not really inconsistent with AA.
WPA,
Every single 'old-timer' in AA uses methods similar to those of AVRT, but they rarely explain this to newcomers. Not necessarily out of malice, but simply because it was never articulated to them, and they essentially learned it on their own, through trial-and-error. I have met a few who can articulate it, but not many. Whenever I explain how AVRT actually 'works' to old-timers (not the newbies who haven't figured it out yet), they usually recognize the similarities. They may attribute the skill of recognition to a 'Higher Power', and call detachment 'turning it over', but they do this nonetheless.
In AVRT, the Addictive Voice is essentially an immoral proposition, and some religious AVRT'ers may likewise attribute this moral recognition to G-d. There are scattered references to the Addictive Voice in the AA Grapevine, where it is referred to as 'the committee'. Of course, they call the Beast 'my disease', or sometimes 'king alcohol'. You can often hear echoes of AVRT when people say "my disease is telling me to stop working the steps," for example. Generally, though, all of this is given cursory attention in AA, at least compared to what we do with AVRT, where it is the prime focus.