Marcher13

Hi everyone. I'm on Day 18 both here at SR and in recovery so it's relatively early days. I went to an AA meeting last Friday but it was not for me on a variety of levels, I'm agnostic and I struggle with the higher power concept. I believe I am responsible for my recovery so the links here in the Secular Recovery area have provided me with some valuable reading.

I like the take-no-prisoners approach of the Rational Recovery organisation but I'm cautious because it is early days. I'd be interested to know if you have implemented the RR method, if you have subscribed to the forum over there and what you think of it.

I also intend to investigate the SMART process.

Thanks for any insights you can give me.

ETA So sorry I posted this in the wrong place, I will ask a mod to move it.

Received

There are many threads here on this forum about AVRT. I especially like this one:http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...ined-long.html

There are also several other threads: Here is part 5 of AVRT discussion:

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...-part-5-a.html

I'll bump them both for you so you can either click on them here or go straight to the threads on this forum.

Received

you can also google rational recovery and take the crash course.

Rational Recovery/AVRT brought my drinking to a screeching halt. I had been "sober" by way of a recovery program for 13 years and then "relapsed" for five years. I stopped drinking the night I joined here and posted. I am now permanently abstinent from alcohol for good. RR/AVRT was exactly what I needed and was missing for so long in the recovery program I attended.

freshstart57

I am a proponent of AVRT, and only learned about it after having implemented it, more or less, when I joined SR and started reading here. AVRT and SMART share a common heritage, and I find they complement each other well since they both advocate personal empowerment and self efficacy.

I read the Crash Course on AVRT from the website (for free), and that was it. I use other tools too like mindfulness and again find a good match with the AVRT cognitive type approach to achieving and maintaining sobriety. I haven't joined the forum at Rational Recovery, since I see myself being recovered and all.

So, welcome to the Secular Connections forum, make yourself at home here. There is a lot of support here for you.

Received

Yeah, like freshstart, I too had never heard of RR/AVRT until I joined here one evening. I did buy the book "Rational Recovery: The New Cure for Substance Addiction" which I found extremely helpful but I must say I learned enough here in Secular connections, taking the crash course and by getting plenty of feedback from other members who use/used this technique to finally have that AHA moment I had been in search of for years and years.

FinallyFinished

These forums and the RR book that I ordered from amazon (I got it used and cheap) are proving to be all the tools that I need. I haven't subscribed to the site, but i imagine you can find a lot of helpful threads right here.

Marcher13

Received, Finally and freshstart thank you so much for those answers, they are very helpful to me. And thanks Received for bumping those threads, I'll include those in my evening reading.

SoberKnitter

I'm using AVRT as well. I took the crash course. I just quit a little over a week ago, but considering I tried to quit a million times in the past 20 years and never made it more than a day or two, I think it's very effective.

This time using AVRT just feels so different. Every time I tried to quit in the past, I was really motivated and I really meant it, but I just didn't have the tools to make it stick.

I had a pretty rough withdrawal, and my AV chatters nonstop, but I'm actually having fun identifying it and just letting it whine and try to manipulate me. I've already been to a restaurant with friends (people and places) with no trouble at all. It's just so much annoying background chatter. I feel like a different person... me.

Nonsensical

+1

I walked that same road.

Marcher13

I feel as if I have found my answer but I'm also feeling a bit confused -- maybe that's my real self and the Beast talking but I don't think so. I came into sobriety/recovery with some pre-conceived ideas about what constitutes recovery and, until a few days ago, knew nothing about RR and AVRT. I've read through much of the RR site, done some background reading here (tho' I need to do more), RR & AVRT make total sense to me. It was an Ah-ha! feeling when I ready about the separation of the Rational Self and the Beast/AV.

I stopped drinking 17 days ago, feeling that either I stop or I don't. I'm not suggesting for a second that I'm stronger than anyone else but I thought I was making a firm decision when I decided that alcohol was having a bad effect on my life so I wouldn't drink it any more.

Yet I've been edgy and losing confidence in myself because the AA meeting I attended was not for me at all but it planted ideas in my mind and also because so many others relapse in the beginning so I started thinking what's going to go wrong, are you going to fail really big time because you haven't relapsed yet?

Yes I realise how laughably convoluted that thinking is but that's what was happening.

I'm feeling pretty weary tonight so I'll end there and thank you for your ideas so far. I intend to go ahead with RR/AVRT and I look forward to your input.

soberlicious

Any and all doubt about your ability to end your addiction is pure AV.

Glad you are here.

xo

Marcher13

When I posted my OP I thought that RR and AVRT were separate methods hence my question, thanks to your responses I've been able to sort that. I see that SMART has the same origins but has developed a slightly different method.

My plan over the Easter break is to read all the threads Received kindly bumped for me (starting with Part 1), then go back to RR. This black and white method appeals to me enormously especially as it is based on the separation of the thinking self and the AV.

Prior to learning of RR I was depressed about forever labelling myself as an alcoholic and being fearful of relapses when I felt that I could prevent relapse, so RR seems a great fit with my thinking.