Dismissing the AV out of hand, no negotiating or bargaining, is the really the whole ballgame.
The "R" in AVRT is recognition , scanning your thoughts through the filter of AVRT to identify AV in order to dismiss out of hand is equally important.
Any thought, feeling, or image of future use is AV , so is any doubt in your ability to remain abstinent.
Once born the Beast, the desire , 'programmed itself' via our 'good natured' hardwired survival drive 'system' and went rogue, yeah ? IT's bark the AV , function is to get More, to indulge the desire . The Beast by its nature can't indulge itself, like a parasite in a host , It is dependent on the host for action, the host has complete control and can only indulge the Beast by willful compliance .
Dismissing the AV stops the indulgence in its tracks. Recognizing , separating 'out' AV from the (host) your thoughts , the thoughts of a permanent abstainer, through the filter of AVRT , once a Big Plan is made is the 'learning' curve.
The AV 'speaks' , the Beast barks Its desire, in our own vocabulary, It hijacks and weasels its way into our thoughts and feelings and disguises Itself as our own genuine thoughts to gain access and manipulate us in order to get us to act and provide It with More, like a 'good' survival instinct would, yeah ?
When we are using/drinking there is no separation , we are 'all Beast' , we are acting to get more , 'enjoying' more ,the only conflicts that arise are the negative consequences of use/abuse and those are easily ,or not, rationalized into normalcy and are taken on or endured as the willing price to pay for the deep pleasure of intoxication.
Any doubt in your ability to abstain is AV and dismiss-able. The notion that you may not be 'doing AVRT right' is AV , yeah ?
The AV is/can/will be 'retroactive', in the OP you said " that connection in my brain where the AV has in the past driven me to take action to indulge is somehow breaking down a little" , that is AV because what you are saying is that the AV was operative without your compliance, which isn't true, the AV's job here is to keep that false impression alive in order to use it at a later date to fool you again in the future to 'be driven into action', yeah ?