Originally Posted by
AlericB 
Well, I need to understand something before I have confidence in it. Dismissing any criticism of a book as AV doesn't work for me I'm afraid.
Why do you say AVRT is not a recovery model?It is an expression of the common wisdom of self-recovery into a paradigm or model no?
Trimpey does not claim to have invented the technique, in fact he goes to pains to say it did not, and this lore is a subject I am interested in and have every right to discuss.
AVRT works regardless if you have confidence in it or not.
Your understanding of it is flawed. It is not a model or paradigm. Those words, in fact, are recovery-industry words.
AVRT is a tool. Like a screwdriver. It is used in the customary fashion and the job is done.
No one writes dissertations on the understanding of a screwdriver. I suppose you would say it is not a tool, but rather a framework or paradigm for fastener-loosening and tightening exigencies.
Similarly, AVRT is not academic or intellectual in nature, theory, or original research. It is not philosophy and doesn't require or merit philosophical debate.
It is empirical - study what goes in and what comes out. In this case, quite literally, when no alcohol goes in, no drunkeness comes out.
Many people have attempted to apply some sort of critical scythe to AVRT, but it doesn't work. Such attempts are AV.
In any case, AVRT is simply a tool, designed to be used or discarded, and frankly, no one particularly cares what you, I or anyone else does, including employing AVRT, drinking or hanging out in church basements.
But this overweening analysis is silly. You are better off debating hardware.