edeneen

any thoughts, opinions or experience with this wanted...

thanks

CarolD

We do have a few members who are useing that...I hope they will be along to share with you later...
The base of their program is AVRT...a behavior modification method

. I have no expereince with it. tho I did do a bit of a similar method...SMART
for an issue not related to either my alcoholism or recovery.


How are you doing these days?

edeneen

Thanks, doing good so far, on day ten since last relapse. I just want to research some alternatives to AA because it has never worked for me in the past years off & on- and I do know the def of insanity !

CarolD

Of course AA is not the only way...please do find something that will improve your life...all my best
Day 10 ..that is a good beginning for your fresh start....

Threshold

there is something called proactive 12 steps, that you do on your own, and don't involve an outside higher power, etc. there is a free download e book. I am in NA, but I like to read the literature of other recovery programs too, I find it interesting.

Zencat

I know of RR and the AVRT. I have found the AVRT is useful when that little voice in my head, the AV, is trying to convince me drinking/drugging is just okay. Early on in recovery my AV was very active.

Then as sober time increased the AV became weaker and weaker as I shutdown that little voice with my more powerful desires and actions to remain sober.

Finally the AV goes away to the point of having no influence on my day to day living. Through the good time and the bad, the AV becomes only a memory of just how strong the pull of addiction was in my past.

Soberpotamus

I quit drinking using AVRT... although I had no idea it was called that at the time. I just sort of spontaneously did it on my own. However, I'd been working up to quitting for the past couple of years. Finally, I just thought: Hey, it's possible that it's just as simple as quitting and never, ever looking back. And that quite possibly, it was the only thing that was really going to do it for me. Since June 28th I haven't struggled at all with sobriety... just little flashes (not really even full blown urges... more like fleeting images, taste, smell etc.) here and there. But I quickly shut down the AV. AV = Addictive Voice. RR teaches AVRT = Addictive Voice Recognition Technique. I've read the Advanced Crash Course on AVRT and I just ordered Rational Recovery today.

We have a member on the forum named AVRT... I'm sure he'll chime in soon and give you some info

Oh... and I have a post I can send you on the Honey Badger video... and how I related it to the Addictive Voice. It's humorous but powerful

Anna

I do hope that you find a recovery program that works for you.

I use SR as a support, but I also work on my recovery on a daily basis.

Terminally Unique

Hello,

The main component of Rational Recovery is Addictive Voice Recognition Technique®, or AVRT. AVRT is a set of instructions on how to objectify the desire for the pleasure produced by various substances. In psychology, this would be called a dissociative technique. Jack Trimpey, the founder of Rational Recovery, discovered this technique while working with clients, but he makes no claims of having invented it. In effect, Trimpey asked a few hundred people who quit on their own, without any help, precisely how they did it, and then wrote down the instructions. He then refined them over the years by observing how people responded to those instructions. The result was AVRT.

As SoberJennie pointed out, some people, even today, inadvertently discover the technique on their own. AVRT is, in effect, the way that people have naturally recovered from addiction throughout human history, since before addiction treatment or recovery groups ever existed. The benefit of learning about it from Rational Recovery is that you don't have to waste time learning it through trial and error, as Trimpey has effectively synthesized the technique from hundreds of people who did just that and describes it in detail. It allows you to quit your addictions, in private, without group meetings or therapy sessions.

As for my experience, AVRT is extremely powerful, and I was able to quit my addiction to alcohol after having spent thousands of dollars on addictions counseling, and much time in recovery groups. Some people seem to "get it" faster than I did, though, and I have seen people who were relapsing over and over again just "snap out of it" after learning the technique. The best description of it is contained in the following book, which is available on Amazon for under $12, and less than half that used. Trimpey originally titled it "The Final Fix," but Simon and Schuster apparently changed the name, against his wishes.
Rational Recovery offers a quick "Crash Course On AVRT" on their web site for free. You can run a quick google search to find it. There is also a journal article titled "AVRT: the Rational Recovery Technique," which was published in Behavioral Health Management in 1994. You can run a quick google search on "AVRT allbusiness" to find a freely available copy of it. Neither are as comprehensive as the book, however, and I will be sending you a few links to freely available excerpts of it via Private Message shortly.

checkmate1

Yes I have the book Rational Recovery by Jack Trimpey. I first used it a few years ago to get sober I relapsed after 2 and a half months. I found the book very useful although I drank again I wasn't ready to give up the drink completely back then. I'm now 94 days sober and haven't reread the book as I still can remember it clearly. I went to my first AA meeting last Thursday since being sober. I try to take a bit of everything with me whatever I do and this strengthens my sobriety.

vInDaLoO

AVRT and Alan Carr combined are doing it for me

Terminally Unique

Yes, Allen Carr's "The Easy Way to Stop Drinking" was indeed a very nice adjunct. Completely different in its approach, but it does get you to reconsider some underlying assumptions about drinking and drinking culture. Sort of a "change of perspective" - useful if you still envy people who drink, for example.

As CarolD mentioned, CBT and REBT, which are used by SMART recovery, are also nice adjuncts for addressing other problems that may become apparent or arise once securely abstinent. Rational Recovery formerly used CBT/REBT, before it did away with meetings altogether, but some of the old RR meetings regrouped under the name SMART Recovery, and many people who were not happy about losing the RR meetings switched over to SMART.

SMART still lists "The Small Book," also by Jack Trimpey, as recommended reading. I have the book, and it is interesting, but it does not cover AVRT. The author has stated that he would like to pull it off the market, but the publisher won't do so as long as people keep buying it.

Terminally Unique

If it has been a few years, you may want to re-read the book. In my experience, AVRT grows on you, and I was able to see it a little differently when I re-read the book after several months of abstinence with a fully clear head. Of course, I could say the same thing about literature I have re-read after years; I always tend to notice new things the second time around.