There is no doubt that the most popular self help book for people with alcohol problems is this one by Allen Carr.
He achieved his deserved reputation with his initial book about stopping smoking, and such was its success that he’s now written two books dedicated to drinking. This one is for those who want to regain control, but don’t want to stop completely.
If you don’t want to buy the book, but are interested in the cognitive approach that it uses, try having a read through our articles and worksheets on relapse prevention.
Hi all,
Allen’s work has helped me quit smoking, I now only fancy a joint every few weeks or months but that’s a different thing isn’t it?? I mean that’s mental addiction and only happens when I go to see my friends and want to enjoy that feeling. Ofcourse that was what kept me hooked on tobacco for so long, but medicinal herbs etc., when used properly, like my shamans and medicine men, improve our lives…..so is the question not about proper use?
Anyway I digress….My future father in law, who I live with, goes to the pub for 3 hours a day and then gets through at least half a bottle of wine when he comes home, sat on his own, falling asleep sat upright!!
I want to help as I know this will and probably is hurting the person I love, her mother and our future children.
Will this book help? I was thinking I’d go for “no more hangovers” as it sound more light hearted, less like I’m preaching and he might actually read it, what do people advise?
My other issue is I’m not sure how he’ll take the idea of quitting, can the book help him just cut down?? I think he’s depressed and his friends at the pub may be all he has?
Please help
Many thanks
AK
The book won’t work on anyone who doesn’t have a desire for change. However I am aware of a number of people including myself who had the book laying around for quite awhile (in my case a year or more) and at a low point in my drinking picked it up and voila!
Buy the book, pretend it is for yourself or someone else and leave it lying around. If your soon to be father in law has the misfortune to start reading this book when he thinks he needs to do something about his habit he will become addicted to not drinking…for good!
I was a very heavy smoker for 42 years, tried all the crap out there to try and quit.. Then I read Allen Carr’s book , it’s been 19 months since I smoked.. Really hoping the book on alcohol will help .. as I sure do need it , good to read feed back, good luck too you all !!
Stopping drinking is harder than stopping smoking only because most people want to stop smoking while most drinkers would like only to cut down.
After that difference is dealt with by Mr. Carr the way to stopping drinking…,permanently….without considering oneself in recovery or on the path of one day at a time is straightforward just like stopping smoking.
Been over 5 years for me (can’t remember the exact date) after 30 years of increasingly heavy drinking and smoking.
Alan Carr will do “all” the work to change your brain and your life. The only requirement is to be ready for the change if it comes.
Alan’s approach to making us rethink our ideas about alcohol is excellent. Dan C, I have to disagree with you, the book does work for alcoholics. I know, I was an alcoholic. AA does not work. AA is founded on the principles that the individual has no choice and is weak and is constantly having to abstain inorder to live a miserable life without booze. Alan’s approach is to deal honestly with alcohol, to make us see it for what it is , a DRUG, pure and simple. Alan’s approach helps people to strip away all the rubbish that is spoken about alcohol. It helps people understand that they are in control and it helps them take control in the most easy way. Alan was an alcoholic. Alan’s approach worked excellently for me. I recommend it to anybody who has a drinking problem and wants to deal with the problem. Good luck.
Worked for me. couldn’t have said it better other than to add that AA’s approach of ‘one day at a time” leaves one with a lifetime struggle of will it be tomorrow that I might fail?.
Carr has one finished with alcohol, permanently a completely.
I quit smoking with the easyway seminar 12 years ago now need to do the same with wine. Living in Singapore and can only get the book… It all makes perfect sense I have 100 pages to go but am still reaching for wine after the kids are in bed at 7 - should I book a flight to London and do the seminar or finish the book? I just want to be free and do not want to jeopardise any chance…. Help anyone x
No. Just keep reading the book as a study book, re-reading chapters and as Carr says (if you are truly looking for change) “the penny will drop” and you will be finished with alcohol. I had to keep reading and re-reading There is no rush. It took years to get hooked.
This book doesn’t work if you’re an alcoholic like myself. AA saved my life. One cannot apply the same principals to quitting smoking to quitting alcohol, two totally different beasts. Not to mention Carr was never an alcoholic, nor did he appear to have any type of drinking problem.
Unfortunately Carr sold himself out. I guess the money wasn’t enough from his genius of a book on smoking.
This book doesn’t work if you’re an alcoholic like myself. AA saved my life. One cannt apply the same principals to quitting smoking to quitting alcohol, two totally different beasts. Not to mention Carr was never an alcoholic, nor did he appear to have any type of drinking problem.
Unfortunately Carr sold himself out. I guess the money wasn’t enough from his genius of a book on smoking.
He was a Alcoholic!
I just finished reading the book and no, it’s not to “control alcohol” in the sense that you can drink moderately. By the end, it will become clear that the only option is to STOP DRINKING, and if you actually open your mind to what he has to say (which is quite sensible and logical and not at all the BS that a few other commentors have claimed it is), you DON’T WANT TO DRINK. He recommends having a final drink in the last chapter, but seeing as I polished off two bottles of wine the previous night, I had absolutely no desire even for that last drink. It’s poison, in every sense of the word, and does absolutely nothing for you. The ideas that it makes you brave or improves your social skills or eases stress are lies.
I’ve always been a heavy drinker, although only at social functions, and when I started drinking at home alone to ease stress and boredom, I realised I had a serious problem. Now I’m quite looking forward to the next social function and NOT slurring my speech, talking nonsense or passing out at the end of the night. I’m looking forward to being PRESENT with my friends and actually listening to what they have to say. I’m looking forward to waking up the next morning energised and hopeful rather than groaning and pulling the duvet over my head.
Alcohol is a highly addictive drug, yes, but the addiction is mental. Once you understand that our culture has painted alcohol to be something it isn’t, something other than that poisonous drug, you don’t WANT to drink and that’s why it’s called the Easy Way.
im hoping there might be support on this site.im reading allen carrs book about alcohol as he helped me give up after years of smoking.somehow this seems harder.you can tell anyone your giving up smoking and get cheered on but iv noone i can tell about drinking without being frowned at or lloked down on.is there anyone that can offer support on this site please?
I gave up smoking using allens book and now im reading his control alcohol.i really hope this also help me as im risking my health drinking.its great to know im not alone.
I re-read the book and went another year without, then a holiday came up and I was back to square one; think maybe I felt it was too easy to stop that I would just stop afterwards. I think if you cant get to a seminar, just re-read. Maybe try the other version - very minor differences - Theres Stop Drinking for the US and Control your Alcholol for the UK markets. Seminar is very good and put the jigsaw together for me.
Hi All,
I read this book in June 2011, and stopped drinking for 7 weeks.
Am quite a heavy drinker, and felt fine! I actually made a conscious decision to start drinking (as it started warming up here in Melbourne, and I love beer on the balcony.)
Anyway, I’m now back to square one. Still have the book and considering reading it again, but the thing I’m worried about is that if I read it a second time, and it doesn’t “work” again, will that screw up my chances of using this approach.
If money were not an issue, I’d be on the next plane to London to do the seminar (as the Smoking book didn’t work for me, but the seminar worked perfectly).
Any advice on someone who failed the first time trying again with the same book?
Thanks!
Hi Dan,
I have read the easy way to stop smoking and quit for 3 wonderful years, yet one cigarette and there i was back to 20 a day… I have been smoking for almost a year now, thinking everyday that i’ll pick up the book, read it again and it will be so easy, the problem is that i waited for almost a year to pick it up because of that exaxt same fear of failing again, believing if i did fail again i was doomed to be a smoker my whole life.
So this time i decided i would try again anyways, i felt how my whole life was becoming unhealthy again, i believe the smoking comes hand on hand with the drinking … Anyhow, like the book says, the only reason we don’t quit is FEAR!!!
So why should we surrender to that fear instead of just reading the book and believing everything that is said in there??
You can do it yourself with ur attitude and the way you approach the book- fearless!!!
Go for it, get a better quality of life!!!
Gday Dan,
in reply to you mate, you have nothing to fear, I used Allens Stop Smokink book 3 times and gave up each time, sounds nuts I know. But a week after I 1st gave up went on hols with 2 bro’s who drink heavily, so I got pissed with them in a depressing night club and reached for a cigarette again, spewin!!
Soon as I got home I sat down and read the book from cover to cover again and immediately quit “for good”. A few yrs later got pissed on Vodka and Red Bull which I never touch n back again I was smoking. Took me a yr to get round to readin the book again but worked again!! Few yrs later I f**cked up n started again n was back on them for 3-4 yrs so went to a Seminar n havent smoked in 2yrs n 2mths.
Am never goin to smoke again I hope but if I do I know I have his method to fall back on. Just dont have that one drink or cigarette as he clearly states and you’ll be fine mate. Am embarassingly back reading the Alcohol book now, 3 days dry after binge when my wife n I broke up, only on page 7 but feel so much better already, cos I know it will work. Good luck to ya brother, heres hopin for no more slips eh!!
Paul
May I recommend This Naked Mind -Control Alcohol by Annie Grace . I am finding that it both compliments and reinforces Alan Carr’s book with more detailed scientific explanation. Good luck.
I read Alan Carr’s book and had my last drink on 20th October 2011 and have not had any desire to drink at all. I went out with my work colleagues for a Christmas do and drank water but I still had a very good time and enjoyed myself for the first time without making an idiot of myself. I read the book a second time straight after the first just to make sure I understood all the points he makes. I was drinking at least a bottle and a half of wine every evening for the last 20 years. On Christmas Day, I thought I would have just one glass of wine with dinner but after just one sip, poured it in my husband’s glass !! Not only do I feel better I can also feel it in my pocket - spending £70 per week on wine is just unaffordable. If you want to quit please read the book with an open mind - it really does work.
Francesca I am so happy for you well done you. Be proud of yourself. I have just bought the book and am on chapter 20 at the moment I understand what I am reading and I have an open mind. I really do want to give up and I bought this book believing it would change things but so far I am not seeing a difference even though I get what is being said. My crux time is when I’m stressed with all the rubbish life throws at me and I have had more than my fair share over the years as I’m sure many people have, the difference is now unlike before I don’t want to turn to it anymore but I’m not sure I have the faith in myself to be able to change things I want to I really do…
14 months sober after reading this book, Ive never looked back, if you read it and read it properly, it works. Ignore those people whining that its not what they thought, the principles involved are deceptively simple. If you have a drink problem, read it, could save your life.
H- posted this on the other Allen Carr thread but I bought The EasyWay to Control Alcohol so re-posted below. Such a help reading your comments, feel far less alone…
A few weeks ago ready the EasyWay to stop smoking, having smoked for for 20 years(all my adult life) and I was astonished and delighted and still am to discover that I KNEW with euphoria when I finished the book that I would never smoke again. Critically, I KNEW I would never WANT to smoke again and have closed that chapter of my life, with true joy at being free.
I so want to feel the same about drinking – outwardly I am rarely seen obviously drunk but I sneak few sips of wine in the morning and then usually end up topping up all day drinking a bottle of wine a day at least… madness really and it’s making me ill. Just a few years ago I felt myself to be quite the glam 30s drinker, now I can see it’s controlling me. So I obviously want to feel the same joy about stopping drinking as I do at being a non-smoker and while the messages are both clearly EasyWay, I was still half clinging to the idea that I could ‘just cut down alcohol’ (why? it’s poison after all!) until near the end, so will re-read more slowly and absorb with a view to really quitting. Many thanks and best wishes to all on here – Allen Carr is such a force for good!
I have read hundreds of books on the subject, being a suspect alcoholic, and this book just nails it. Having tried and failed at AA, I was looking for something new and this book makes you see alcohol in a completely different light. It removes all the stigma associated with heavy drinking and explains in a very down to earth way the reasons we drink to excess and have difficulty stopping. It totally challenges all our views on drinking, social drinking etc and makes sense. I have not had a drink since reading this book 7 months ago, and I highly recommend for anyone who thinks they may have a problem with booze.
just finished book - have only been sober (but hungover) for 1 hour but this book is the first thing that has given me light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. I guess I’ll let you know how it goes, but I think the critics are missing the point. The author offers a unique perspective and one that makes real sense. He has allowed me to let go of one of the big obstacles I previously had to giving up - the ‘fear’ of actually doing it. I am genuinely excited at the prospect of quitting. I too was pretty miffed at the the idea that I may want to quit entirely instead of ‘cutting down’ as the title suggests - I almost didn’t finish it but I’m glad I did. Even if you wanted to reduce your drinking I still think it would help.
One criticism - it can be a bit hard to ‘wade’ through so I would suggest reading it twice to get fully appreciate what is being said.
I would DEFINITELY recommend this book.
I totally agree with you Paul, this book is written to try and change the readers opinions towards drinking to support the decision to ‘stop’ - its a complete con! It relies on the fact that if you have purchsed the book in the first place you are likely to be considering a health behaviour change and are therefor much more likely to suceed. It also implies that the readers life will be changed forever, which again suggests it will work better for readers who want to change their lives. Clearly the answer with alcoholism is to simply stop, as it is unlike a REAL disease were you cannot simply chose not to have say ….. Cancer, TB or Salmonella? The book is biased as it intentionally targets those most motivated to suceed (but then, they were the ones who REALLY wanted to quit anyway).
I have just finished reading this book from start to finish and it is absolute nonsense!. The whole premise of the method is that ‘no will power will be required. The author rambles on chapter after chapter attempting to ‘remove the brainwashing’ that we all have regarding alcohol using ideas which to anyone who has been a regular drinker , or in fact addicted to any substance, can clearly see straight through as being utterly untrue. He then tells the reader to simply take the last drink and give up.. and thats it,, ….. thats the wonderful method I had just shelled out £8.99 for, along with a few ‘rules’ to follow which arnt worth the paper that they are printed on other than to rehash the rubbish from the main body of the book. .. now if that is not the ARCHETYPE of the ‘will power’ method then I don’t know what is..
the book is a glorified version of the ‘get rich quick’ type scams that are advertised in the classifieds of newspapers or on spurious websites and ebay listings!
this book is a con and WILL NOT WORK!! DO NOT BUY
I read Allen Carrs book Easy way to Control Alcohol 3 years ago, not for wanting to give up but to control drinking. Since reading the book I havent had any alcohol since. I have no interest in drinking and do not want to drink again!
This book is fantastic.. read it. It will change your life!
Allen was absolutely correct. The “little” monster is easy to bypass. However, once I take a drink, the “big” monster is insatiable. I have quit drinking after repeatedly trying to cut down. Each time I did that the big guy won, and I decided that he was not going to win any more! I don’t HAVE to drink, so, I don’t, and I am loving my new energy and fun-filled life!
Hi, the description of this book above is incorrect as anyone who has read it will vouch for. Nowhere in this book does it imply that you cut down on your drinking, it is purely to help you stop altogether, so the description is incorrect. Saying that it is a brilliant approach to alcohol misuse and is highly recommended, it worked for me so far, sober 4 weeks now and no intention of going back to my old ways.
that’s all.
sheila
Gill, check amazon.com :
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Allen-Carrs-Easy-Control-Alcohol/dp/0572028504
Some of the bigger book stores in Melbourne should surely stock his books too? Alternatively, contact Penguin Books - last time I checked, they allowed people to order directly from them.
PS: Allen Carr’s method worked well for me, but for nicotine addiction. I have not tried the books on alcohol, but I should think that they work just as well.
would you please tell me how I can purchase this book. on How to give up Alcohol. I live in victoria Australia
Thanks. Gill
Phone any good book shop and as them to order the book for you. It is very good. I have stopped drinking and feel great. I recommend it to anybody.