Thrifty,
Do not engage in unnecessary "chatter" with the AV, just recognize it and observe it. You are afraid of your own bodily desire for alcohol, as if it can do anything without your consent. Rest assured that it cannot. Separation is the key. Try the finger wiggle exercise to realize just how powerless the Beast is. Wiggle your fingers, then look at your hand, and say
"OK, mighty Beast, if you can wiggle my fingers, I'll go out and get good and loaded."
Your Beast will try and tell you that you are uncomfortable, dying for a drink, but that is not true, it is just Addictive Voice. It is not you that is uncomfortable and dying for a drink, but your Beast, and IT is talking
to you, trying to get you to believe that you are IT and that IT is you. If it helps, recall the structural model.
If you are having difficulty separating from the Beast, you can try to focus on it and objectify it completely. For example, you can say to yourself
"IT feels deprived. I feel it struggle, but I am not struggling as I feel IT struggle. After everything IT put me through, I am very glad that IT struggles, suffers, and feels deprived. I don't drink, too bad for IT." You could even attribute all desire for a drink to the Beast and add
"Since the desire to drink is not me, but the Beast, I don't even want to drink."
Oh, and finish reading the book. That should give you something else to do instead of chatting with the AV.
