5 ways to prevent relapse after quitting smoking

How to avoid relapse when quitting smoking

Many people set out to quit nicotine with the best of intentions—only to fall back into the trap.

The tobacco industry wants you to believe you need nicotine to relax, to cope with stress, or to be yourself. That’s a lie.

The truth is: nicotine does nothing for you. It creates the illusion of relief by causing the very discomfort it claims to cure.

Relapse is not a failure of willpower; it’s a misunderstanding of addiction. When you fully understand how the nicotine trap works, as we explain in Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking, the desire to smoke or vape disappears.

No cravings. No withdrawal. No fear.

Quitting smoking: Preventing relapses

Congratulations. If you’re reading this, you’re either on the verge of quitting smoking or have already taken the bold and brilliant step of becoming a non-smoker. But what happens next?

Many smokers fear quitting because they worry about going back, about relapse. That fear, that niggling doubt that they might “slip up” one day, can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

To stay free, you need to understand what causes relapse and how to avoid it, not through effort or deprivation, but by removing the desire to smoke altogether.

Let’s walk through the real reasons people relapse and explore powerful ways to avoid it.
The good news is: relapse isn’t inevitable. It’s preventable. Just as Allen Carr’s Easyway method shows smokers that the desire to smoke is an illusion, this article will show you that relapse can also be dismantled – one mental trap at a time.

Why do relapses happen?

Relapses don’t happen because you’re weak or you lack motivation to stop smoking.
They happen because the nicotine trap is cunning and the mind still believes smoking provides some kind of benefit.

The main reason that people go back to smoking or vaping is that have not dealt with the mental addiction and so have a feeling of deprivation or missing out.

From the illusion that a cigarette will ease stress, calm nerves, cure boredom, or reward you.

This is very common with the willpower method, but Allen Carr’s Easyway helps you change how you think about your addiction.

Three major causes of relapse:

1. Emotional triggers – Stress, anxiety, depression.
2. Social triggers – Peer pressure, smoking environments.
3. Withdrawal triggers – Nicotine cravings, restlessness.

Until these are exposed for the illusions they are, relapse remains a risk.

The good news? You can eliminate all three without force or struggle.

Learn how Allen Carr’s Easyway to stop smoking removes the desire to smoke without willpower.

How to stay smokefree

1. Understanding your emotional smoking triggers

Emotions like stress, sadness, or frustration can reignite the smoking impulse, especially if you once used cigarettes as a coping tool.

But smoking never actually solved your problems. It only created a nicotine withdrawal that you had to relieve every hour or two.

Social Triggers

Being around smokers or revisiting old environments (like pubs or breaks at work) can be dangerous if you’re not mentally prepared. Please note that with Allen Carr’s Easyway we encourage you to quit smoking and then socialise with smokers because the method helps you see there are no benefits to smoking and hence there is no feeling of deprivation.

Remember:

• A smoke break isn’t freedom; it’s slavery.
• The illusions that smoking is helping you in some way
• Your presence, not your cigarette, adds value to social situations.

You may be interested in reading how do I stop if my partner smokes? or why do I always go back to smoking when I drink alcohol?

Withdrawal triggers

If you stop with the wrong method, then nicotine withdrawal symptoms, irritability, poor sleep, and headaches can make relapse tempting. But remember: withdrawal is not the problem.

The Little Monster is easy to kill it is the Big Monster( the mental addiction) that you need to deal with.

Click here to understand what happens to the body when you quit smoking.

2. Find the best stop smoking products for you

The Allen Carr’s Easyway method doesn’t require any substitutes. It is best not to use any nicotine substitutes. They all make it more difficult to stop because they perpetuate the illusion that you’re making a sacrifice.

Substitutes that contain nicotine or so-called Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT); patches, gums, nasal sprays, e-cigarettes and inhalators, are particularly unhelpful as they simply keep the addiction to nicotine alive just like tobacco smoking.

However, we acknowledge for medical reasons, some people may need to take them.
Important: If you use stop smoking aids, be sure they are part of a bigger plan to end desire, not just manage symptoms. Otherwise, you are likely to start smoking again because you have not defeated the big monster – the mental addiction.

Explore how Allen Carr’s Easyway compares to vaping or NRT.

3. Prepare yourself

Live a smoke-free life and be on your guard not to fall back into the trap.

If your brain ever starts playing tricks on you by thinking “Just one smoke”, remember there is no such thing.

The question you need to ask yourself is not: “Shall I smoke now” but “Do I want to become a smoker again, all day, every day inhaling the smoke into my lungs, never being allowed to stop?”

The answer “No”. Why not?

“Because I didn’t like being a smoker – that’s why I decided to become free”.

That way those moments can become pleasurable as you congratulate yourself that you’re free and that way you can enjoy remaining a non-smoker for the rest of your life.

4. Detoxification (Detox)

This can appear very scary. People fear withdrawal and also the fear of success or failure.
The good news is that your body starts healing within 20 minutes of your last cigarette.

If you have dealt with the mental side of addiction, what we call the big monster, then the little monster of physical withdrawal is mild and easy to deal with.

5. Behavioural therapy approaches / Talking therapies

Behavioural therapy helps change how you think about smoking.

Allen Carr’s Easyway is a special type of behavioural therapy called “cognitive restructuring therapy”. It helps you to understand the illusions so that you understand that there is not benefit to smoking and hence you can stop without feeling deprived.

If you do not feel deprived then there is nothing to give up and hence a much reduced chance of relapse.

What to do after a relapse

If you’ve had a cigarette after quitting—don’t panic. It doesn’t mean you’re back at square one. It’s what you do next that matters.

Get professional help.

Relapse is a sign that the desire to smoke wasn’t fully removed. That’s where Allen Carr’s method shines.

We don’t focus on nicotine. We focus on the illusion that smoking has some value.

Call or email us to discuss with our highly trained team.

You may need to come back to a live seminar or try our video-on-demand quit smoking course. Our success rate is unmatched, and we offer a money-back guarantee for the gold standard seminars.

You didn’t fail. You just haven’t finished. We’ll help you do that.

Register for Allen Carr’s Easyway Stop Smoking Programme today

Quitting smoking doesn’t require pain, willpower, or feeling deprived. It requires understanding.

With Allen Carr’s Easyway, millions have found true freedom from cigarettes. Whether you prefer a live seminar, online video course, or corporate support, we’re here to help.

Register now and start living the life you were always meant to live -free from nicotine, free from cravings, free from fear.

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We’ve helped over 50 million people across the globe. You can be next.

“It’s not about quitting smoking—it’s about being free.” – Allen Carr

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