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Old 10-15-2017, 02:59 PM
  # 12 (permalink)  
Algorithm
 
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Join Date: Sep 2016
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Originally Posted by zenchaser View Post
So do you believe that taking a self talk inventory would have no merit? I think it would be helpful for learning how to recognize one's AV and irrational beliefs.
It may have merit in other areas, but once again, the AV is not an irrational belief, so it has no merit in AV recognition. The AV is a rational, intelligent expression of a biological drive for pleasure that is understood by the limbic system as being necessary for survival. In AVRT, that part of the limbic system is the Beast.

AV ≠ Beast

Bark → Dog = AV → Beast

The AV is the 'bark' of the Beast.

Acting on the dictates of the Beast's AV may be irrational, just as it may be irrational to reach out and touch a pretty boy/girl when the thought comes to mind, but the thought itself is not irrational. The Big Plan is a chosen irrationality, and in AVRT, any thinking or feeling that contradicts the BP in any way, shape, or form is Addictive Voice.

Any further disputation of the Addictive Voice beyond the Big Plan is simply a negotiation -- a means to cut a deal with the Beast. I discussed much of this before elsewhere.
AVRT is not strictly dependent on the Structural Model, by the way. It is simply an alternative to the disease model, and provides a context for understanding addiction as a natural, normal function of the human body. Addiction is simply an adaptation, which causes unexpected, and often detrimental, side effects.

I would generally advise keeping AVRT separate from other approaches and conceptual foundations. Much of the strength of AVRT comes from its simplicity and purity of purpose. Everything in AVRT is clearly defined, and there is no esoteric 'deep stuff' involved.

That is not to say that other avenues to personal growth do not have their merits, however.
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