Allen Carr's Easyway in India- To Stop Smoking

The Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking seminars have the highest independently verified success rate of any quit smoking method, and attendees give it a 90% satisfaction rating.

Clinical Evaluations of Allen Carr's Easyway Seminars

Over the years there have been several independent, physician audited evaluations of the Carr method.

1. Long-term success of short smoking cessation seminars supported by occupational healthcare (Moshammer & Neuberger, Addictive Behaviors, Nov 2006)

This study quotes a three-year success rate of 51.4%

Click here to view report

2. Smoking Cessation at the workplace: One-year success of short seminars (Hutter, Moshammer & Neuberger, International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Medincine, 2005)

This study quotes a best estimate success rate of 55% and a worst case success scenario of 40% (the worst case assumes that everyone who couldn't be evaluated for follow-up (because they had moved house or changed jobs, for example) be counted as smokers)

Click here to view report

3. An independent evaluation of the Allen Carr's Easyway seminars presented to a joint meeting of the Austrian Society of Occupational Medicine and the German Society of Occupational and Environmental Medicine by Prof. M. Neuberger quotes a 12-month success rate of 53.3%

4. Dr. Ricardo Serralta's evaluation of the Carr method. Spain, Feb 1998.

?   Dr. Serralta is the National Co-ordinator of Medical Services for Schweppes SA, a corporate client of the Carr organisation
    in Spain.
?   Dr. Serralta quotes success rates for the Carr programmed implemented at Schweppes at 75 - 80% at 12-18 months.

Other client comments

We have received detailed feedback from a large number of clients over the years. Whilst this feedback does not constitute hard data, it gives a strong indication of how people feel about the Carr program.

Cornwall Social Services, an institutional client, quotes a success rate of 73%. Levi Strauss in Holland quotes a 60.8% success rate at 18 months. Middles rough Borough Council, another institutional client quotes success rates of 'approximately 70%'.

Satisfaction surveys for Ford Canada and the Bermuda Pharmaceutical Association show 100% satisfaction ratings.

Comparing Allen Carr's Easyway with other methods

IMPORTANT NOTE: Comparison of success rates of various quit smoking methods

Believe it or not, there is no resource for smokers to compare the success rates of various quit smoking methods. Given the amount of money that has been spent in this area of research, we find this odd.

The reason for this is that researchers do not compare methods head-to-head, they typically compare them to placebo, or to no treatment.

This enables manufacturers of Nicotine Replacement Therapy products, for example, to make claims such as NRT "doubles your chances" of quitting. However we believe that smokers are much more interested in the question: "Double them from what to what?"

Researchers also quote success rates not as straight percentages, but as improvements (or not) over placebo, expressed as Odds Ratios (OR). So for example, if treatment A is twice as effective as placebo then its OR is 2. If it is half as successful its OR would be 0.50.

This is not really useful for smokers because it doesn't provide any information about how successful the treatment is in the real world, just how it performs with respect to placebo.

The table below is an attempt to provide smokers with more relevant information.

As a benchmark we have used the success rate for using no intervention (aka cold turkey, pure willpower). Studies indicate a 12-month success rate of 2-5%, the average of these studies is 3.4%. We have used this figure to calibrate the OR found in studies using other methods. For example, to calculate the success rate for Zyban, we have taken the baseline 3.4% success rate and multiplied it by the improvement over placebo presented in the quoted peer-reviewed papers.

This methodology is far from perfect, but it's the best we can do with the data. The major area of concern is that it discounts the placebo effect, assuming that placebo is equal to no intervention (although not all trials compare to placebo, some compare to no intervention, in which case the calculation would be accurate as is). For example, if the placebo effect doubles the success of using nothing, then the success rate of the method being measured would also double (though 50% of the increase in efficacy would be due to the placebo, not to the treatment).

As a result of this methodological wrinkle, these rates should be viewed as guides to success rates rather than absolute values. If any researchers can suggest a better method for calculation, we would be happy to amend the below table accordingly.

In the meantime if any manufacturers or practitioners of the methods outlined below have better, independently evaluated and peer-reviewed data quoting absolute success rates, we would be happy to include them.

We can be contacted via info@easywaytostopsmoking.in

Below are the success rates of the major (and some not so major) quit smoking techniques.

Success in quitting smoking is measured at one year.

Technique	Success Rate	Source	Summary
Allen Carr's Easyway Seminar	51.4%	Addictive Behaviours, Nov 2006
?Cold Turkey? / pure willpower	3.4%	Various	Depending on the study, success rates are variously reported at 2-5%. 3.4% is the average of these studies
Zyban / Wellbutrin	6.1 ? 8.1%	Antidepressants for smoking cessation, Hughes, Stead & Lancaster, 2002	Antidepressants do show improvement over no intervention and over placebo, but not by much. Failure rates are over 90%
Zyban plus NRT	6.2 ? 9.2%	Antidepressants for smoking cessation, Hughes, Stead & Lancaster, 2004	In some studies Zyban plus NRT performs better than Zyban or NRT alone, but again, not by much. Failure rates are over 90%
Acupuncture, laser, electro stimulation, auricular therapy	2.6-5.2%	Acupuncture for Smoking Cessation, White et al, 2002	"We failed to detect an effect of acupuncture on smoking cessation when compared to sham acupuncture at any time"
Anxiolytics (e.g. diazepam)	No data	Anxiolytics for Smoking Cessation, Hughes, Stead & Lancaster, 2000	"There is no consistent evidence that anxiolytics aid smoking cessation"
Aversive smoking	4.6-9.8%	Aversive or rapid smoking for smoking cessation, Hajek & Stead, 2001	"The existing studies provide insufficient evidence to determine the efficacy of rapid smoking? Milder versions of aversive smoking seem to lack efficacy"
Clonidine	4.4 ? 9.5%	Clonidine for smoking cessation, Gourlay, Stead, & Benowitz 2000	"Based on a small number of trials, in which there are potential sources of bias, clonidine is effective in promoting smoking cessation. Prominent side-effects limit the usefulness of clonidine for smoking cessation."
Community pharmacy interventions	No data	Community pharmacy personnel interventions for smoking cessation Sinclair, Bond & Stead. 2004	"?trained community pharmacists, providing a counselling and record keeping support programme for their customers, may have an effect on smoking cessation rates. The strength of evidence is limited because only one of the trials showed a statistically significant effect."
Community interventions	No data	Community interventions for reducing smoking among adults Secker-Walker, Gnich, Platt, Lancaster2002	"The failure of the largest and best conducted studies to detect an effect on prevalence of smoking is disappointing."
Competitions & incentives	No data	Competitions and incentives for smoking cessation. Hey & Perera. 2003	"Incentives and competitions do not appear to enhance long-term cessation rates, with early success tending to dissipate when the rewards are no longer offered"
Exercise	No data	Exercise interventions for smoking cessation Ussher, 2003	"Only one of the 11 trials offered evidence for exercise aiding smoking cessation at a 12-month follow up."
Hypnotherapy	"There was no evidence of an effect of hypnotherapy compared to rapid smoking or psychological treatment."	Hypnotherapy for smoking cessation Abbot, Stead, White & Barnes 2002	"We have not shown that hypnotherapy has a greater effect on six month quit rates than other interventions or no treatment. The effects of hypnotherapy on smoking cessation claimed by uncontrolled studies were not confirmed by analysis of randomized controlled trials."
Lobeline and mecamylamine (nicotine antagonists)	No data	Lobeline for smoking cessation Stead & Hughes, 2003	"There is no evidence available from long term trials that lobeline can aid smoking cessation."
Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT)	Gum 5.2-6.2% Patch 5.5-6.9% Nasal spray 5.5-11.5% Inhalator 4.9-10.8% Lozenge 5.5-8.8%	Nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation, Silagy, Lancaster, Stead, Mant & Fowler, 2002	"All of the commercially available forms of NRT (gum, transdermal patch, nasal spray, inhaler and sublingual tablets/lozenges) are effective as part of a strategy to promote smoking cessation. They increase the odds of quitting (i.e. the success rate compared to using no intervention) approximately 1.5 to 2 fold"
Naltrexone & opioid antagonists	No data	Opioid antagonists for smoking cessation, David, Lancaster & Stead, 2003	"In a pooled analysis there was no significant effect of naltrexone on long-term abstinence" "Based on limited data from two trials it is not possible to confirm or refute whether naltrexone helps smokers quit."
Doctor advice and support	5-7%	Physician advice for smoking cessation, Lancaster & Stead, 2000	"Simple advice has a small effect on cessation rates. Additional manoeuvres appear to have only a small effect, though more intensive interventions are marginally more effective than minimal interventions."
Self-help	3.6 - 4.9%	Self-help interventions for smoking cessation, Lancaster & Stead, 2001	"?self-help materials may increase quit rates compared to no intervention, but the effect is likely to be small."
Silver acetate	2.1 - 5.9%	Silver acetate for smoking cessation, Lancaster & Stead, 2002	"Existing trials show little evidence for a specific effect of silver acetate in promoting smoking cessation."
Telephone help lines	4.7 ? 6.0%	Telephone counselling for smoking cessation Stead, Lancaster & Perera, 2004	"The available evidence neither confirms nor rules out a benefit of telephone counselling as an adjunct to face to face counselling or pharmacotherapy"