The Easy Way to Stop Smoking is a self-help book written by British author and accountant Allen Carr. The book aims to help people quit smoking, offering a range of different methods. It was first published in 1985 and is the most famous book of Carr's, as it resonated widely in the world and became a worldwide bestseller.
Background
After 30 years of heavy smoking, Carr quit in 1983, at the age of 48. He subsequently left his job as an accountant in the same year and opened the first "easiest way" clinic, to help other addicts. Carr wrote a number of books intended to lead to smoking cessation and loss of excess weight, some of which were best sellers.
Content
Carr writes that smoking addiction is psychological and therefore this is the most significant factor in addiction to cigarettes. The book itself is divided into 44 chapters, whose purpose is to lead the smoker to, upon completion of reading the book, make the decision to quit smoking.
Evaluation and limits of efficacy
For some physicians and researchers, the efficacy of this method is controversial, despite intense commercial advertising. Indeed, according to NICE document (retrieved from its webpage updated from 15 May 2015), NHS stop smoking services (NHS SSS) ordered the NICE (national institute for clinical excellence) to perform a review of non-NHS SSS treatments’ effectiveness evidence. Allen Carr’s Easyway program was methodically evaluated among other methods like acupuncture or rapid smoking. The report concluded there was no controlled study on efficacy of Allen Carr’s Easyway program.
An influential pneumologist and tobacco addiction expert (Pr. Bertrand Dautzenberg) considers that Allen Carr’s Easyway deals with incantation series rather than evidence-based technique. Pr. Dautzenberg states that coaching methods are acceptable but rises concern that Allen Carr stands that nicotine physical dependence is not important and frontally opposes to substitution treatment. Eventually, according to him, doctors should advise against Allen Carr’s Easyway method.
References list
External links
- Official website
- The book on Amazon.com
- An interview with Carr about the book on YouTube