Rational Recovery was founded in 1986 by Jack Trimpey, a California-licensed clinical social worker.
The Rational Recovery program is based on the premise that the addict both desires and is capable of permanent, planned abstinence.
According to this paradigm, the primary force driving an addict's predicament is what Trimpey calls the "addictive voice", which can physiologically be understood as being related to the parts of the human brain that control our core survival functions such as hunger, sex, and bowel control.
Consequently, when the desires of this "voice" are not satiated, the addict experiences anxiety, depression, restlessness, irritability, and anhedonia (inability to feel pleasure).
As time progresses, the recovering addict begins to see the benefits of separating themselves and their rational minds from a bodily impulse that has no regard for responsibility, success, delayed gratification, or moral obligation.
This technique relies heavily on basic semantics, essentially relegating the AV to an objectively recognizable "it" and retaining the control and free will of the "I."
that supports drinking/using as "Beast activity", the compulsions will fall silent, and the person can eventually regain control over their life and never worry about relapses.
Moreover, this separation of the rational self from the relentless "Beast" will, Trimpey says, enable addicts to always remain aware of the repercussions associated with a single relapse.
[13] In the United States, psychologist and lawyer Stanton Peele has encouraged legal action against mandated attendance of 12-step programs, stating an objection to the courts and other government and tax-supported agencies mandating attendance at meetings run by organizations with spiritual or religious content.
[citation needed] In a 1993 research study led by Marc Galanter, former president of both the American Society of Addiction Medicine and the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, attempted to measure the impact of Rational Recovery on members.
The research found that "Rational Recovery succeeded in engaging substance abusers and promoting abstinence among many of them while presenting a cognitive orientation that is different from the spiritual one of AA.