This article is about the self-help writer. For the English comedian, see Alan Carr. For other people with a similar name, see Alan Carr (disambiguation).
Allen John Carr[1] (2 September 1934 – 29 November 2006) was a British author of books about smoking cessation and other psychological dependencies including alcohol addiction.
Biography
Born in Putney, London,[2] Carr started smoking cigarettes while doing National Service aged 18. He qualified as an accountant in 1958.
Carr finally stopped smoking on 15 July 1983, aged 48, after a visit to a hypnotherapist. However, it wasn't the hypnotherapy itself that enabled him to stop – "I succeeded in spite of and not because of that visit" and "I lit up the moment I left the clinic and made my way home...". There were two key pieces of information that enabled Carr to stop later that day. First, the hypnotherapist told him smoking was "just nicotine addiction", which Carr had never perceived before that moment, i.e. that he was an addict. Second, his son John lent him a medical handbook which explained that the physical withdrawal from nicotine is just like an "empty, insecure feeling".[3] He claims that these two realisations crystallised in his mind just how easy it was to stop and so then enabled him to follow an overwhelming desire to explain his method to as many smokers as possible.[4]
Philosophy
Carr teaches that smokers do not receive a boost from smoking a cigarette, and that smoking only relieves the withdrawal symptoms from the previous cigarette, which in turn creates more withdrawal symptoms once it is finished. In this way the drug addiction perpetuates itself. He asserted that the "relief" smokers feel on lighting a cigarette, the feeling of being "back to normal", is the feeling experienced by non-smokers all the time. So that smokers, when they light a cigarette are really trying to achieve a state that non-smokers enjoy their whole lives. He further asserted that withdrawal symptoms are actually created by doubt and fear in the mind of the ex-smoker, and therefore that stopping smoking is not as traumatic as is commonly assumed, if that doubt and fear can be removed.
At Allen Carr Clinics during stop-smoking sessions, smokers are allowed to continue smoking while their doubts and fears are removed, with the aim of encouraging and developing the mindset of a non-smoker before the final cigarette is extinguished. A further reason for allowing smokers to smoke while undergoing counselling is Carr's belief that it is more difficult to convince a smoker to stop until they understand the mechanism of "the nicotine trap". This is because their attention is diminished while they continue to believe it is traumatic and extremely difficult to quit and continue to maintain the belief that they are dependent on nicotine.
Another assertion unique to Carr's method is that willpower is not required to stop smoking.
His contention was that fear of "giving up" is what causes the majority of smokers to continue smoking, thereby necessitating the smoker's perpetuation of the illusion of genuine enjoyment as a moral justification of the inherent absurdity of smoking in the face of overwhelming medical and scientific evidence of its dangers. Instead, he encourages smokers to think of the act of quitting, not as giving up, but as "escaping".
Easyway
Carr left his accountancy job in 1983 and set up his first Easyway clinic. He wrote ten books which appeared as bestsellers on selected book ranking charts including his first book The Easy Way to Stop Smoking (1985). The success of the original London clinic, through word-of-mouth and direct recommendation, has led to a worldwide network of 100 Easyway clinics in 35 countries plus the production of audio CDs and DVDs.
Allen Carr's Easyway is clinically tested through two randomised controlled trials. In 2018 an Irish trial found that Allen Carr's Easyway was almost twice as effective as Quit.ie[5] and in 2020 a UK randomised clinical trial found Allen Carr's Easyway "as good as if not better than, the Gold Standard NHS Programme which uses NRT & 1-1 psychological support.[6] The two randomised controlled trials formed part of the evidence which led to approval for Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking in-person Live Group Seminars use on the National Health Service (NHS). Approval was granted by England's internationally renowned National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)[7] with the committee finding that Allen Carr's Easyway was not only effective but also cost-effective.[8] Allen Carr's Easyway is now used by NHS/Local Council Stop Smoking Services.[9] Further studies continue to confirm the effectiveness of the method. [10]
Allen Carr's Clinics are run by facilitators who were once smokers and have used Carr's method to stop smoking. All therapists/facilitators are members of an association created by Allen Carr's Easyway organisation, Members of the Association of Allen Carr Therapists International (MAACTI), and membership indicates that the therapist/facilitator has completed the rigorous recruitment, and the comprehensive training & development process required before anyone can practise as an Allen Carr's Easyway therapist/facilitator. They can only do so under license with Allen Carr's Easyway (International) Ltd or Allen Carr's Easyway (US) Ltd.
Carr also wrote a number of other how-to books on subjects such as losing weight, stopping alcohol consumption, and overcoming the fear of flying. Along with his close friends, protégés, & co-authors Robin Hayley (chairman, Allen Carr's Easyway) & John C. Dicey (Global CEO & Senior Allen Carr's Easyway Therapist), he wrote books dealing with gambling, debt/junk-spending, sugar addiction, emotional eating, mindfulness, tech/smartphone addiction, caffeine addiction, vaping/JUUL with Online Video Programmes handling smoking, vaping/JUUL, alcohol, cocaine, cannabis, sugar & carb addiction, emotional eating, gambling, caffeine addiction, fear of flying, and mindfulness. In 2020, it was estimated that Allen Carr's Easyway method had helped more than 50 million people worldwide.[13][14]
In 2021, Allen Carr's Easyway assisted the World Health Organisation's year-long global campaign for World No Tobacco Day 2021.[15]
Illness and death
In 2006, Carr was diagnosed with lung cancer at age 71. His spokesman stated that this may not have been linked to his historical smoking habit, as he had been around smokers, and therefore exposed to their second-hand smoke, while treating them for their addiction. He had stated in his book "The easy way to control alcohol" chapter 16 that he was a chain-smoker for most of his adult life.[16] The following month, Carr revealed that his lung cancer was terminal and that his life expectancy was about nine months. Carr said: "Since I smoked my final cigarette, 23 years ago, I have been the happiest man in the world. I still feel the same way today.” Carr wrote to the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair, urging the UK Government and NHS to accept his method, saying that the "powerful influence" of lobbyists working for nicotine replacement firms had turned them against him.[17]
Carr died from lung cancer at his home in Benalmádena, west of Málaga, Spain, on 29 November 2006. He was 72 years old.[18][19][20]
Carr worked closely with and passed responsibility for continuing his work, developing the method to cover as many addictions and issues as possible, to his close friends and long-time collaborators Robin Hayley & John C. Dicey[21] (Chairman & Global CEO of Allen Carr's Easyway respectively). On the insistence of international publishers John C. Dicey reluctantly allows himself to be described as co-author of Allen Carr books but makes it very clear, "I take great pleasure in deflecting any praise for the books (quite rightly so) to Allen Carr. I was extremely lucky to have worked so closely with him since 1998 and was honoured that he asked me to carry on his work".
