Allen Carr

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".

Carr left his accountancy job in 1983 and set up his first Easyway clinic. (He actually stopped smoking and modelled his program from a program called the Living Free Program for Smokers which was given by InControl International Inc. in hospitals across the U.S.) 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 proven through two randomised controlled trials. 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 [4] and in 2018 an Irish trial found that Allen Carr’s Easyway was almost twice as effective as other smoking cessation methods available on Health Service.[5] Based on their full money-back guarantee (which requires two follow-up sessions without reimbursement of travel), Carr's clinics claim 90% success rate in aiding smokers to stop for three months, and 51%[6] success rate in helping smokers stop for 12 months based on an independent study not connected with any health organisation. Celebrity endorsements include Richard Branson, Anthony Hopkins, Ashton Kutcher, Ellen DeGeneres, Nikki Glaser, Chrissie Hynde, Michael McIntyre, Pink, Jason Mraz, Charlotte Church and Hrithik Roshan which aids the organisation's efforts to expand commercially.[7]

Allen Carr's Clinics are run by therapists who have claimed they were once smokers and have used Allen's method to stop smoking. All therapists are members of an association created by the Allen Carr multi-million pound enterprise known as the Allen Carr Therapists International (ACTI). ACTI is not accredited by any public health organisation or the NHS.

Carr also wrote a number of other how-to books on subjects such as losing weight and stopping alcohol consumption.

• The Easy Way to Stop Smoking (1985)
• The Only Way to Stop Smoking Permanently
• Allen Carr's Easy Way for Women to Stop Smoking
• The Little Book of Quitting
• The Illustrated Easy Way to Stop Smoking
• Allen Carr's How to be a Happy Non-smoker

• The Easy Way to Stop Drinking
• Allen Carr's Easy Way to Control Alcohol

• Allen Carr's Easyweigh to Lose Weight
• Good Sugar Bad Sugar
• No More Diets: Eat What You Like Without Gaining Weight

• The Easy Way to Enjoy Flying

• The Easy Way to Stop Worrying

• Smart Phone Dumb Phone: Free Yourself from Digital Addiction
• Allen Carr's Easy Way to Be Successful
• Burning Ambition: The Inspiring Story of One Man's Quest to Cure the World of Smoking