This is the introduction to the famous Crash Course on AVRT®, which has been posted on the Internet since 1995. Since then, many thousands of men and women have taken back their lives from addiction and recoveryism solely by clicking through the 28 flash cards which begin at the very bottom of this page, Bullets for my Beast.

To prepare you for the work in the Bullets pages, study this page carefully, as it lays a foundation of health for AVRT-based recovery, which is the polar opposite of the disease concept of addiction which underlies all recovery groups.

Considering what is at stake, many go on from this sequence of instruction to the Advanced Crash Course on AVRT® in the subscription area of this website, where monitored discussion of AVRT-based recovery takes place daily.

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The Structural Model of Addiction
© Copyright, 1996, Rational Recovery® Systems, Inc.

The disease concept of addiction has become quite popular, mainly because it is the nature of addicted people to dignify their deplorable conduct. The disease concept of addiction is pure Addictive Voice, concealing the actual reason people drink/use while it discourages individual initiative.

The structural model of addiction is unique to Rational Recovery. This simple idea helps make sense of your addiction and shows you why you have been behaving so stupidly. Ridding yourself of disease-thinking can help you recover from substance addiction.

The structural model presents your addiction as a function of health rather than disease. There are no hidden causes for your addiction; you drink because you love to drink. You use because you love the way it feels. Addiction is a natural function of the human body, based entirely upon the pleasure principle. Brain chemistry and genetics are irrelevant to recovery. Our 2-part brain model, below, is simple, but for our purposes, not simplistic.

There is no evidence that "alcoholism" or addiction is a disease or is caused by one. Nor is there any treatment for addiction, other than voluntary abstinence. To call abstinence a "treatment," however, is like saying that the treatment for the disease of long hair is a haircut, a needless complication that obscures the nature of the problem and the nature of its solution. When the disease concept becomes part of your Addictive Voice, you will feel like a victim of circumstances rather than someone who is responsible for becoming addicted, for staying addicted and for immediately quitting your addiction -- right now, for good.

In effect, you have two separate brains within your head which, among other things, compete with each other. One is primitive, similar to the brain of a dog or a horse. This we call the midbrain. It is basically the brain of a beast, and its only purpose is to survive.

The beast brain generates survival appetites which drive the rest of the body toward what it demands, such as oxygen, food, sex, and fluids. These survival needs are all associated with physical pleasure, i.e., the better something feels, the more necessary it seems for survival. Your crazy appetite for alcohol or drugs springs from the force of life, physical survival through the pursuit of physical pleasure. Your survival appetite is aimed at the wrong stuff, to be sure, but the desire to drink excessively is more a reflection of health than of a mysterious disease. The desire for pleasure fades among sick or diseased people, further suggesting that addiction is a reflection of health rather than a disease process. In RR, some call the human midbrain "the party center," because of the bond between pleasure and addiction. Of course, it is often quite stupid (self-defeating) to act on healthy desires or impulses, as in substance addictions.

It matters not how substances such as alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana get mixed in with the midbrain's real survival needs. Chemically dependent people feel willing do most anything to continue the use of that substance -- even if it means the loss of everything else that is important. Addicted people wish this was not so. The Beast of Booze, or the Beast of Buzz, is ruthless in getting what it wants.



But there is another brain that sits on top of the beast brain -- the cerebral cortex. This "new brain," or neocortex, allows you to be conscious, to think, to have language, to control your voluntary muscles, and to solve abstract problems. Your neocortex is "you," and you are capable of defeating any appetite, even for oxygen or food. (Anyone can stop breathing until unconscious or stop eating until dead.) Your voluntary muscles (hands, feet, etc.) are "wired" directly to your neocortex -- to you. Your beast-brain is essentially a quadriplegic, unable to get what it wants.

We call your desire for the pleasure of alcohol and other drugs the Beast. It cannot speak, it cannot see, it has no arms or legs, and it has no intelligence of its own. But it enlists your thoughts and intelligence, sees through your eyes, creates strong feelings, and persuades you to use your hands, arms, and legs in order to obtain its favorite substance. It must appeal to you to get alcohol or drugs into your bloodstream.

Although your beast brain has no language ability, it uses your language and thinking centers to get what it wants. It is an animal mentality that can talk in your head. For example, if you wisely decide that drinking is bad for you, and that you will stop, you will soon hear that old, familiar voice telling you why you should continue drinking. You may even imagine a picture of what you want to drink. That is your Addictive Voice, expressing the Beast's demand for alcohol. Addictive Voice is to Beast as bark is to dog.

There are two parties to your addiction - you and your Beast. You can easily recognize your Addictive Voice using the following definition:

Any thinking, imagery, or feeling that supports or suggests the possible or actual use of alcohol or drugs -- ever.

AVRT allows you to become acutely aware of Beast activity and dissociate from it so it can no longer instigate action.

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To follow, are 28 flash cards called "Bullets for my Beast." They are cues for action, directing you to complete recovery, while online. If you have been drinking or using today, sign off and return here during a day when you have been abstinent. Make a safe plan for detox. You are responsible to protect yourself against acute withdrawal symptoms. If you are in doubt, consult with your physician.