Originally Posted by
tursiops999 
Tatsy, I'm so glad you are experiencing this gift.
This weekend I've been reading "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts" by Gabor Mate, which others have mentioned on SR. I find it very interesting and helpful. Near the end of the book, he describes five "steps" to take when experiencing a craving or thoughts of acting out an addictive behavior. He doesn't mention AVRT, but to me, these steps can be seen as an elaboration of the "recognition" piece of AVRT. Perhaps a more detailed way to go about recognizing and letting go. For those who haven't read it, the five steps are:
Re-label -- "I don't need to do X now, I'm only having an obsessive thought that I have such a need, a false belief that I have such a need"
Re-attribute -- "This is not really me, it's old circuits in my brain sending me a false message."
Re-focus -- find something else to do for a few minutes that I enjoy
Re-value -- remind myself of the decision I have made to not engage in the behavior, and why.
Maybe that overcomplicates the recognition piece, or maybe it helps. I just offer it here as food for thought, and welcome any comments.
Tursiops, sorry about the late reply! I'm like a whirling dervish at the moment, fighting the fires I've neglected due to drinking.
Yes, the above did help and on the back of your post, I came across Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, who penned a book in 1996, Brain Lock, which dealt with recovery from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, by utilising the Four Steps which you set out.
Dr. Schwartz wrote another book, You Are Not Your Brain, in 2011, which seems to expand the Four Steps applicability to negative self talk inner critic, addictions, black and white thinking etc., and coins the phrase Deceptive Brain Messages.
There is an overlap and expansion between AVRT and the Four Steps. I needed AVRT to deal with alcohol addiction, because of its laser beam focus, when gripped by those crippling, horrendous AV thoughts demanding a drink. Yet, I can see how the Four Steps would be extremely effective for dealing with inbuilt habits which have a less immediate, urgent effect; such as negative self-talk etc,.
I'm so glad this Secular Connections thread exists!