We become temperate by abstaining from indulgence and we are the better able to abstain from indulgence after we have become temperate. (Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, II)
Practice makes perfect.
If at first you don't succeed, try try again.
Fake it 'til you make it.
I considered what you’ve written about, O, AA and Antabuse (external) and AVRT concept (internal) and wondered what would happen if the external drug control was removed. Whether the Antabuse was a positive factor in the short term, and a negative factor in the longer term. Whether it was a safety net, that by its very existence, might stop someone from fully putting an effective internal anti-alcohol Plan into place. Then I was ruminating on whether people who attend AA long term, would relapse just because they stopped attending meetings, consequent upon the removal of an external control.
The positive vs negative equation implies that internal control is more enduring and reliable, that it's superior to external control. It's exactly the perspective one could reasonably expect from a person whose locus of control is predominantly internal.
Since locus of control is rather stable and influences our approach to problems, it becomes highly relevant to recovery from addiction. An approach to recovery that conflicts with your own locus of control is almost certain to fail. Therefore, find (or create) an approach to recovery that best matches your own position on the locus of control continuum (ranging from external to internal). If you would like, you could take a test to measure your locus of control: The Locus of Control
(Personal Responsibility and Locus of Control
A. Tom Horvath, Ph.D., ABPP, Kaushik Misra, Ph.D., Amy K. Epner, Ph.D., and Galen Morgan Cooper, Ph.D.)
I yam who I yam.
You do you.
To thine own self be true.