Allen Carr's easy way to quit smoking: what is its essence, advantages and disadvantages? How many years has Allen Carr smoked? From what disease and at what age did Allen Carr die? How to stop smoking using the Allen Carr method?
The name Allen Carr is not only known by smokers. The British guru for fighting addictions and fears started out as an ordinary accountant, but his stressful job led him to smoke 100 (! ) cigarettes a day, every day.
After 30 years of regular and unsuccessful attempts to quit smoking, Allen finally discovered an effective way, with the help of which he finally stopped smoking.
Since then, Allen Carr's method has helped over 50 million people around the world. It is curious that among them there are not only smokers.
Allen Carr
The future anti-smoking fighter was born on September 2, 1934 in London.
Almost nothing is known about his childhood. Carr often began his memoirs at the age when he himself became addicted to smoking. This happened at the age of 18, when he was drafted into the army.
During his service, Allen Carr began smoking. After demobilization, he trained in accounting and, day by day, due to his intense work, he became more and more involved in smoking.
A heavy smoker, Carr used to smoke several packs a day. His personal record (with a minus sign, of course) is 100 cigarettes a day.
More than once, Carr made desperate attempts to quit smoking, but to no avail. Thus thirty years of cigarette slavery passed.
The significant day that changed the life of Allen Carr, and then millions of his followers, was July 15, 1983. On this day, a chronic smoker, passionately wanting to overcome his addiction, attended a session with a psychotherapist.
The treatment didn't seem to help. Upon leaving the clinic, Allen Carr immediately lit a cigarette. It is true that after a while I still found the strength to overcome a bad habit by inventing and testing my owneasy way to quit smoking.
Carr's years of smoking and the years he spent attending smoking seminars in smoke-filled classrooms took a toll on his health. The anti-smoking activist passed away in the summer of 2006. The cause of death was lung cancer. Carr was 71 years old.
In an interview with Izvestia, given a few months before his death, Allen Carr expressed confidence that he would have lived another twenty years if he had stopped smoking sooner.
Allen Carr's last work was the book "The Nicotine Conspiracy". In it, he talked about how, under the influence of cigarette manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies, the media and government organizations support myths about smoking. This is how they make money from both those who smoke and those who have decided to quit smoking.
Allen Carr stated:
"Smoking is the greatest shame of our society, even greater than nuclear weapons. "
An easy way to quit smoking and more
Interestingly, Allen Carr adapted his method to treat other addictions:
- dependence on electronic cigarettes;
- alcoholism;
- drug addiction;
- obesity;
- desire for gambling;
- dependence on caffeine and sugar.
Carr's method has also been tested in the fight against debt and fear of flying.
Over the years, Allen Carr has published books:
- "The Easy Way to Quit Smoking" (1985);
- "An Easy Way to Lose Weight" (1995);
- "How to Help Our Children Quit Smoking" (1999);
- "The Easy Way to Enjoy Air Travel" (2000);
- "An Easy Way to Quit Smoking Especially for Women" (2003);
- "An Easy Way to Quit Drinking" (2005);
- "An easy way to live without a hangover" (2005).
The Allen Carr Center is recognized as the world's leading authority on the fight against addiction.
Allen Carr Method
Allen Carr stated that it helps to get rid of addiction painlessly, without holding back by willpower. Carr did not intimidate his patients and did not use shocking photos of internal organs and diseases that smoking causes (smokers know this very well).
Instead, Carr explored and helped overcome the misconceptions that shape addiction. He analyzed the reasons that lead him to smoke and came to the conclusion that the addiction is 1% physical and 99% mental.
The first step that Allen Carr advises anyone who wants to quit smoking is to set a time and date to quit smoking.
Carr's method is to break nicotine addiction by realizing that cigarettes don't help you enjoy life. The "X time" approach increases the value of cigarettes, so it is not recommended to reduce the number of them.
Smokers believe that cigarettes give them a special pleasure. Which helps to cope with stress, live a full life, pull yourself together, relax, concentrate, find a common language and stay in shape. They feel that giving up smoking will deprive them of a part of themselves, of an important part of their life, and they will feel that emptiness for the rest of their lives.
Allen Carr wrote:
"Cigarettes don't fill a void, they create it! "
At the same time, smokers continue to worry about how smoking affects their health, experience constant social pressure and the need to find time and place to smoke between tasks.
"Last cigarette"- the final exercise, when a smoker, smoking a cigarette, promises never to smoke again and remembers exactly what prompted him to do this.
Of course, thoughts about smoking will return from time to time, but for this Carr offers several exercises that need to be performed when the urge to smoke arises.
A 2014 study found that smokers who quit using the Allen Carr method were six times more likely to abstain from nicotine 13 months after their last cigarette.
The Carr method has been clinically proven in two randomized clinical trials. It does not require the use of any medication or nicotine products and there is virtually no nicotine withdrawal, even with severe dependence.
Smokers note that after using Carr's method they feel as if they had never smoked. They can interact with smokers even when they smoke and don't feel like smoking.
Despite millions of positive responses, there are those whoAllen Carr's method did not help: some did not feel the effect, others broke a few months later, others decided that "nothing will happen from one". . . For them there are many other methods - domestic, foreign and even artistic.