Psychological addiction - some nicotine withdrawal symptoms can include coughing, a dry mouth or hunger as your metabolism adjusts to being nicotine free.Īs Allen Carr indicates, cigarettes and nicotine are not strongly physically addictive.which is demonstrated by the fact that you experience physical withdrawal symptoms when you stup using an addictive drug - for example, sickness or headaches or the shakes. One could alternatively make a slightly less dramatic distinction between two aspects of 'addictions': Then at the end of Chapter 5 he sets out what he considers to be the two main reasons why people smoke: He describes how he himself was a chain smoker until he discovered his simple method for giving up smoking and the suspense is built up as he repeats this in several different ways and casts aspersions on more traditional approaches to giving up smoking. The first few chapters of Allen Carr's book read rather like a novel. Whilst Mr Carr's books and clinics probably do help many to quit smoking, this does highlight one of the risks from his approach: the suggestion, as in the book's title, that it can be 'easy' to give up smoking can have the drawback that for those who don't find it quite so easy, their motivation and self esteem suffers if they falter in their progress. I was prompted to write this short review of the book after a client told me how they had attended an initial session at one of his stop smoking clinics and stopped smoking for several days but then started again, which had left them feeling useless and a failure. Many people seem to dislike the repetition in the book, but this is absolutely necessary to break through the walls of lies smokers tell themselves in order to justify continuing.Allen Carr - The Easy Way to Stop Smoking?Īllen Carr (not to be confused with the comedian Alan Carr) is famous for the method for stopping smoking set out in his best selling book: 'Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking'. In the introduction he actually says something like 'Do not attempt to stop smoking unless you honestly are ready to, if you are not, keep reading the book as many times as is necessary to get to this point before attempting'.

He gives a logical approach to quitting based on removing the desire in the first place. This is true from many people's experience because most approaches to quitting involve using either sheer willpower, or some kind of replacement for nicotine (the addictive part), so instead of addressing the root of the desire (addiction) that is ignored, in faith that it will gradually fade enough to not be a bother.Īllen Carr shines a light on the real basis for addiction and how it is a cycle which is reinforced each time a cigarette is smoked. We are always told that smoking is incredibly difficult to stop.

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