SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information - View Single Post

03-10-2013, 05:39 AM

# 120 (permalink)

RobbyRobot

Adventures In SpaceTime

Join Date: Jun 2008

Location: Ottawa, Canada

Posts: 5,827

I think these shares might add to the conversation too

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terminally Unique

There is a reason that half-hearted "Big Plans" don't work. If the plan is not forever, you won't actually hear the Addictive Voice in all its glory. If you try this simple exercise, you'll see what I mean...

Say the following to yourself, in order, and after each one, observe your thoughts and feelings for a few minutes.

I will not drink/use just for today.
I will not drink/use for a month.
I will not drink/use for six months.
I will not drink/use for a year.
I will never drink/use again.
I will never drink/use again, and I will never change my mind.

At the lower items, particularly the first one, you won't feel much anxiety or head noise. As you move down the list, though, you should notice increased anxiety and head noise. Even at item number five, though, you probably won't yet feel the full anxiety and head noise, because you still reserve the option to change your mind.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terminally Unique

This is excerpted from a Jack Trimpey / Albert Ellis Debate (1994) on AVRT, which pretty much sums up the difference between AVRT and a "reasoning" approach, in my opinion.

"AVRT declares that the sole cause of all substance addiction is the Addictive Voice, which is the cognitive-emotive expression of an immutable, substance-specific appetite for the pleasure produced by those substances. The Addictive Voice is accepted as a permanent feature of one's psyche, partitioned off from the "true self" through a number of simple dissociative techniques, and then observed rather than acted upon...

In AVRT, there are no conditions for abstinence or for relapse, nor are there any triggers, warning signs of relapse, psychiatric diagnoses, or thresholds of tolerance, that suffice to justify or explain why one would choose to self-intoxicate. AVRT is a mental sorting skill - a filter - that prevents any further use of alcohol or drugs, regardless of "disposing factors." It is completely independent from all philosophies, schools of psychology, and religious doctrines. Indeed, those epistemologies and methodologies, when posed as a primary means to achieve abstinence, may be properly identified as the Addictive Voice itself...

AVRT creates a combative, oppositional attitude patterned after the Addictive Voice itself, and it is not a contemplative, reasoning, approach like REBT."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terminally Unique

There are two "versions" of AVRT, so to speak. In the first, the "Big Plan" is simply a decision on permanent abstinence, and the reasons for deciding on permanent abstinence are left up to the individual, and may certainly vary from person to person. One person my decide not to drink/use again because if they do, they will lose their family, while another may do so for more materialistic reasons, such as a desire to get ahead in business.

In the second variation on AVRT, though, drinking/using, in and of itself, is viewed as wrong, in the moral sense. I myself certainly balked at this suggestion initially, but if you can get yourself to accept that for you, drinking/using is not only immoral, but also the most immoral act of all, it can be prove extremely effective against the AV.

Except for people who are sociopaths, everyone has a moral conscience which will kick in automatically when contemplating doing something that we feel is morally wrong. If you can convince yourself that your drinking/using is highly immoral conduct, this reflex will kick in automatically and identify the AV almost instantly when it appears. It took me a while to get to that point, but eventually, I did.

It is not easy to do, particularly since addiction is not generally viewed as a "moral issue" these days, but if you can do it, it is extremely powerful. Once at that point, the mere suggestion of any further drinking/using is enough to cause an instinctive, almost automatic recoil.

I'm in complete agreement with all the above.