AVRT is based on Dr. Jack Trimpey's book
Rational Recovery: The New Cure for Addiction
Below is a comprehensive, 200-word description of
AVRT, providing enough information for you to end your
addiction, right now.
Observe your thoughts and feelings, positive and negative,
about drinking or using. Thoughts and feelings which support
continued use are called the Addictive Voice (AV); those
which support abstinence are you. When you recognize and
understand your AV, it becomes not-you, but "it,"
an easily-defeated enemy that has been causing you to drink.
All it wants is pleasure. "I want a drink," becomes,
"It wants a drink." Think to yourself, "I
will never drink again," and listen for its reaction.
Your negative thoughts and feelings are your AV talking
back to you. Now, think, "I will drink/use whenever
I please." Your pleasant feelings are also the AV,
which is in control. Recovery is not a process; it is an
event. The magic word is "Never," as in, "I
will never drink/use again." Recognition defeats short-term
desire, and abstinence soon becomes effortless. Complete
separation of "you" from "it" leads
to complete recovery and hope for a better life. The only
time you can drink is now, and the only time you can quit
for good is right now. "I will never drink/use again,"
becomes, "I never drink now." It's not hard; anyone
can do it.
AVRT
is an insight into the nature of addiction which places
you in complete control over the decision to drink or use
drugs. Some people figure it out on their own, others learn
by reading, as you are here, others learn better in group
discussions, and others learn through skilled, personal
instruction at Rational Recovery Centers. AVRT, like the
Heimlich Maneuver, can save your life, is extremely simple,
is based on common sense, and it's free here at the RR-Web
Center.
Although AVRT is very, very simple, you have to know what you're doing,
and learning it can be tricky at first. This is because your AV uses
your own intelligence and personality in order to remain concealed from
you. It is ruthless in
its pursuit of alcohol or drugs, but it can also be quite
subtle, forceful, seductive, persistent, patient, and has
many other qualities.
The disease concept of addiction is without merit on scientific
grounds and as an aid to recovery from addiction. Therefore,
Rational Recovery has replaced the disease model of addiction
with the Structural Model of Addiction: