I had never heard of Allen Carr until after I had quit smoking. I doubt I would have paid the money for one of his clinics (although it would be money well spent to quit). However, since I have quit, I've read several of his books and watched some of his TV appearances. I see a lot in his approach that are elements of my fairly quick transition from 38 year nicotine addict to ex-smoker. Specifically, I think Carr does a masterful job of laying out the myths and the con job of our nicotine addiction that traps us into years of slavery to something without one single benefit. I believe that he is absolutely right: once you truly see the trap of nicotine addiction, you see smoking in a new light that makes the desire to become an EX-smoker stronger than the desire to continue active nicotine addiction. Here's a three part video featuring Allen Carr walking the audience through one of his seminars. It was 22 minutes well-spent for me as reinforcement of my quit. I think many here who have quit or who are thinking about quitting may find somthing in here that provides insight and motivation:
Two points that really hit home for me: 1) Don't look at individual cigarettes. View "smoking" as it really is, the full chain-reaction, 7300 cigarettes a year, year after year after year. This is the real choice Joel Spitzer refers to. Smoke all of them or smoke none of them. 2) Don't look at quitting smoking as "giving up" something anymore than you would say that you are "giving up" pneumonia or a broken leg. Instead, consider all of the things you gain by becoming an EX smoker and breaking free of the addiction. The videos just mention a few tiny benefits: not having to look around for ashtrays at someone's house or always being on the lookout for other smokers so you don't feel alone and outcast. These are real benefits. I was lucky to stumble into a similarly strong education in the days after I (as it turns out) quit smoking. These exact ideas are what motivated my quit, to the point where I never really entertained giving into a crave. You can't ever look at smoking the same way once you understand that you only ever smoked because you were caught in a trap and didn't know how to get out. That's the insidious nature of the trap. The way out is right under your nose the whole time: just stop smoking and, after a period of time, the craving goes away! Keep smoking and the craving is always there, every hour, like a slavedriver.
Isn't he the king of coining "NTAP?" If so, I read his ebook and it helped me understand so much about addiction and nicotine - and so far, I am 22 days smoke free. Thanks for sharing.
I've read "Easy Way" and the two short on-line books I linked in discussion entry in the Candid Quitters group here: http://community.becomeanex.org/group/candidquitters I've also read his book Scandal, which is available free on-line. It is a no-holds barred indictment (he calls it a scandal) of the government health services and pharmaceutical companies undermining smoking cessation rates. The book was published at the time of his death and accompanied a letter he sent to then Prime Minister Tony Blair to address the issue and make "abrupt cessation with education" programs permissable under the UK health service regulations. I agree with his assessment. It is, IMO, scandalous, that both the UK and US governments actively try to discourage smokers from quitting without the use of pharmaceutical medications.
Thanks for sharing the clips with us hwc. It is my hope that there will be some kind of programs for smoke cessation that are covered under insurance plans. This forum in itself shows that ex smokers need education and a place where they can talk about their feelings with people that are either in the same boat or have been there.
There are some insurance plans that cover limited smoking cessation counseling. However, doctors have to follow the national guidelines, I believe. The UK government health service offers free stop-smoking clinics. I think you get four weeks of visits and/or phone counselling plus eigth weeks of (essentially mandatory) pharmaceutical nicotine. The quit rates are very high at 4 weeks (roughly 50%) while almost all of the patients are still on the gum or the patch. The long term quit rates at 12 months are disappointing (just 15% in a recent study). That's $27,000 in patch cost for every 100 quit attempts. With 15 successes, that's $1800 per 1-year quit in medication cost alone. The drug companies love it. They sell just as much product to the 85% who fail to quit. Serial quitters are their best customers! That's why they now have loyal customer award points on Nicoderm patches! All the stop smoking dollars in the health care system are now going to medication costs ($270 per person for ten weeks of patch), so there are fewer resources being invested in group counselling. The argument is that nobody goes to the counselling anymore. That's true, but look were the stop-smoking ad dollars are going. I think of what this place could be if there were a signficant investment in actual cousellors and a real in-depth education program. The Become an Ex materials are fine as far as they go, but are pretty limited.
My insurance covered the majority of my prescription cost for Chantix. They also covered the majority of my hypnosis sessions (that I tried before using Chantix). I now get a reduced insurance premium because I'm a non-smoker (and I don't use nicotine replacement... so I can pass a certification blood test if necessary). I think there are also insurance company sponsored smoking cessation groups that are now functioning as well. It's a huge problem (both medically and $$$) that unfortunately insurance companies (and then medicare) end up paying for BIG TIME - so they have a vested interest in helping people quit.
My insurance did pay a good deal of my prescription cost for chantix also Christine. What I'm talking about is like the out patient programs that are available for people that have alcohol or drug related problems. If the government/insurances pay for treatment for those addictions why not for nicotene? This forum is awesome as that it is others experience, strength and hope that we get the benefit from. It would be great to have more in debth help available in the real world. Just my thoughts..
