Originally Posted by
BillieJean1 
Well, that's when we get back into AVRT territory. Can the desire to drink be removed? What if it comes back? Even at a year I still getting occasional flashes of desire for a drink/s. I might have them forever, but with what I've learned from AVRT, I know that I need never fear that desire, that it's a sign of health and vitality. Just my brain, doing what it does. I think that is a major myth that addicted people need to challenge, the myth that quitting means they will have to fear cravings for life or that residual cravings/desire mean they are doing something wrong. It's simply not true.
Yes, the two models do view desire very differently. In this model, as I understand it, our desire to drink is a result of thinking that we will get benefits if we drink, that is, desire comes about because we think drinking will make us happier. It doesn't see desire as a biological drive, still less a permanent one, but as a feeling that we can change once we see that we can re-evaluate the benefits and change our preferences for drinking.
I can only speak from my own experience of course and that is that I have felt a lot freer in my mind about how I view "addiction" since reading about this model and a lot happier in my decision to quit. I actually feel none of the persistent desire I felt previously because I never went through the process of assessing all the options about drinking that were available to me and choosing abstinence because that's what I really wanted - I felt all models I looked at forced only one card on me and this left me still feeling that I wanted to drink.
The absence of desire may not necessary for my abstinence but I find it a nicer way to live.