All Smokers Need to Read This Book (Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking - Allen Carr)

Member Name: nickyturnill

Product:	Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking - Allen Carr
Date:	25/10/05 (346 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Helps you to give up smoking....

Disadvantages: ....it is still hard to quit completely....

***My history***
I started smoking when I was 18. Quite why is simply beyond me. I believe that smoking was partly a response to recent parental separation (excuses, excuses hey….) and partly due to the fact that I started University and the additional freedom this entails. Throughout my first year at Uni I smoked about 10 daily on average, increasing considerably when I had a drink in my hands (often). This continued throughout my time at Uni although to a somewhat lesser extent in my second and third years. I vowed to quit cold turkey when I graduated in 2002. This was successful for a short period of time but clearly failed in the long-run. However I did at least succeed in cutting down massively; I completely stopped smoking during the day but continued to poison my lungs in the evenings. I became what I considered a 'social smoker' cravings cigarettes mostly when there are other people smoking, when having a drink, at times of stress or as a 'reward'. I was convinced that because I didn't smoke in the day I was in control, which of course is rubbish…. The last failed attempt to quit was New Year 04-05, but because my boyfriend always has tobacco in the house these attempts were doomed. A friend recommended Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking to me in early March. It worked for her and she reckoned I could do it despite of the tobacco lying around the flat. Then another friend successfully kicked the habit using Allen Carr's methods so I decided to give it a try. I bought the book from Amazon for around a fiver including post and package (that's just slightly more than a pack of 20 by the way).

***The Book***
Firstly, there is no point in you reading this book if you don't want to quit, why would you get on the bus if you didn't want to go to the shops? You must want to quit and you must be willing to seriously change your views about smoking if you are going to succeed. Secondly there is no point in you buying this book for someone else, they need to decide to do it themselves. But of course that doesn't mean you shouldn't casually slip what you read here into conversation!

The book is about 450 pages long, broken into about 50 chapters. The text is pretty small so it is going to take a while to read. I read the book in around two-three weeks and on the whole I found it fascinating and difficult to put down, although at times it can be very repetitive. Allen outlines basic concepts that make so much sense to smokers, if you are a smoker then hopefully you will see smoking in a totally different light almost immediately. Allen himself was a heavy (50 odd a day) smoker for 30 years. He quit 15 years ago and has never looked back. Now he has devoted his life to teaching others how to do the same using his methods. Allen encourages readers to smoke while they read the book and tells you specifically when to have your last smoke. The book is most relevant to heavy middle aged smokers, those who Allen describes as 'desperate to escape the trap' it is this group who boast the highest success rate. His lowest rate is apparently for young casual smokers, that's me!!! This did freak me out a bit at first but having no better options I didn't let this put me off. All in all Allen Carr claims a staggering 96% success rate, this figure is based on the money back guarantee he offers for smokers who fail to quit at one of his many clinics.

Allen constantly refers to case studies and at times these can be deliriously funny and worryingly relevant to personal circumstance, the chapter on secret smoking particularly stands out in this respect. I had many a giggle while I was reading the book.

Allen's method is basically brainwashing, getting smokers to change their attitudes about smoking. Lets be honest now, smoking is a dirty, cancer causing, antisocial, disgusting habit. But most smokers will tell you they love smoking. Allen's premise is that all smokers want to quit even if they haven't yet admitted this to themselves, the reason they don't is fear, they believe they can't do it. The book will teach you to change your attitudes about smoking, teaching you the nature of the smoking trap and how to pull yourself out of it. Smokers need to understand that they actually don't enjoy smoking, it's all about the nicotine! Smokers are drug addicts and are not in control. The cigarettes control the smoker. Smokers learn how to conquer the fear, how to beat the cravings and hopefully become happy non-smoker for the rest of their days! That's not to say that you can't fall into the trap again. Smokers must be willing to NEVER smoke another cigarette again, smoking re-exposes your body to nicotine, thus making it easier to keep smoking and smoking and smoking…..

Admittedly some of the concepts are initially quite hard to accept, particularly that you don't actually enjoy the taste of a cigarette, I thought I wouldn't be able to accept this but believe me I did and the last few cigarettes I smoked tasted seriously nasty to me.

I have decided that I don't want to detail the theories and methods within the book in any more detail than this. The reason I have decided to do this is because Allen actually discourages the discussion of his methods. Why? Simply because I might get it wrong and discourage you from reading it in the first place as you'll think it won't work.

I just want to reiterate that smokers must fully understand the method for it to work and must be willing to NEVER EVER SMOKE ANOTHER CIGARETTE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. Not just one on that special occasion, never. Just one can easily lead you back into the trap and you'll be hooked again before you know it. Why bother? Why not just be happy and proud to be a non-smoker for the rest of your days?

***My Experiences***
I smoked my 'last' cigarette about six months ago. It wasn't that hard initially, not even when I was drinking. But sadly it wasn't my last cigarette at all. I am back in a situation where I smoke a little bit occassionally (every few weeks or so) if I have had alot too drink and if there are other people smoking... I guess it is a huge improvement to before and it is just a habit that I need to get out off.

***Additional Information***
The EasyWay to stop smoking is also available on audio cassette and on video. Allen has also adapted his theories to be applicable to weight loss and other forms of drugs and he has published a book on how to stop your children from starting smoking which I will seriously consider reading in about 20 years when I reach the stage that my children may consider giving this filthy little habit a try.

Allen's clinic now operate worldwide and there are braches in London, Leeds, Durham, Southampton, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Kent, Manchester, Cardiff, Exeter, Oxford, Brighton and others. Additionally they are clinics worldwide in countries ranging from Australia, South America, Poland, New Zealand and Belgium. I am sure that the Allen Carr empire is going to continue to grow and hopefully he will end up helping others to kick the worst habit of a lifetime for years to come. I don't know how much it costs to attend the clinics but I do know that Allen claims that most people manage to quit after just three hours. This is a lot less time than it takes to read the book….

For more information check out the website at http://www.allencarrseasyway.com/

If you do read the book please write to Allen and tell him how you got on, he encourages this and I decided to do it because there were a few pointers that I felt he neglected, specifically concerning daily exposure to tobacco which is something I am likely to face for a long time to come.

Thanks for reading and good luck!!

Summary: Anything is worth a try to kick the habit...