kanamit

Think of it as your survival drive. It makes you eat, drink, breathe, have sex, etc. It is animal-like though in that is has no sense of time or morality. It can be overridden by the conscious part of the brain, the "you". For proof of this think that you can starve yourself to death or cause yourself to pass out by holding your breath, for example.

AVRT is a simple, learned technique that prevents you from white knuckling, using willpower and ever drinking again. It works by regonising you addictive voice (that of the survival drive part of your brain which is making you drink against your own better judgement), and ignoring it. Once you decide you will no longer drink you then use AVRT to disassociate yourself from anything that promotes the future consumption of alcohol.

In Rational Recovery parlance an addicted brain is chemically dependent, rather than having a disease. It is only doing its job because it has been fooled into thinking that it needs alcohol/drugs to survive due to the the pleasure that follows after taking it. So addiction is actually a sign of a healthy brain.

Again, if you're interested check out the Secular connections forum CarolD linked to. While the discussion is respectful please be warned that Rational Recovery and AVRT fly very much in the face of traditional recovery.

It might sound a bit odd. If so, sorry, it's probably down to my poor explanation.

flyawayfromhere

I think you're doing a good job kanamit. Sometimes people mention that there's a voice in their head telling them to drink or giving them an excuse as to why they should drink...we attribute these thoughts to the addicted part of the brain. And yes, RR and traditional recovery methods do butt heads since they are based on different belief structures. I came from AA which I felt did not work for me and that I needed a self-empowering method instead, AVRT offers me that option and for that I'm grateful.

CarolD

Please let's not make this yet another x vs. y thread on recovery


Many SR members are winning over alcohol useing various concepts..methods and programs.
There is no wrong way to find your healthy sober future.

kanamit

I did not intend that, it was just a warning of the fact they're different. No offence intended.

flyawayfromhere

Neither did I...to each his own.

sugarbear1

I used to go to aa meetings to talk in person about what I felt. I didn't bother with the program. Just not isolating kept me sober then. Plus, there's 600 meetings to choose from. I can isolate way too easily.

keep staying stopped, no matter what! It's awesome to be present in the moment. Sobriety does rock!