Allan Carr Stop Smoking Post Game Round Up

It has been three days since I attended the Allan Carr Easy Way to Stop Smoking seminar.

I have not smoked since last Sunday.

The mantra for this smoke cessation program is to try and help the motivated individual to come to some basic realizations about their smoking habits. Here they are: Quitting cigarettes is easy because: 1. The physical withdrawal is limited and overblown by most smoke cessation programs...(witness that most people smoke at least once an hour during the day; however, at night, most people sleep right through the night without going into paroxysms); 2. By giving up smoking you are giving up nothing...cigarettes do not give you an immediate buzz, so there is very little immediate pay-off as is the case with the use of other drugs; 3. The long term "pay-offs" of cigarette use are many and all very negative -- such as expense, health consequences, less time with family on a daily and long term basis, etc.

That's it...thats basically the whole frigging course. The usefulness of this six hour course is that is uses aspects of cognitive therapy, some emotion generation around the issue of quitting, group momentum (rah-rah-rah) and the camraderie of spending time with people caught in the same trap as oneself. There is some bashing (anger generation) around the cigarette companies misleading young people (which is when most people start smoking) into taking up a habit/addiction which promises the very opposite of what it delivers. It is not cool to smoke, it is not relaxing to smoke, it doesn't help your looks, doesn't make you a marlboro man or even a strong individual.

So does it work? Yes. The program works, I suspect, if you WORK the program.

Anyways, after spending $400, I have no choice but to persevere and WORK the program.