Habits
There’s a lot of truth in that old saying: “Old habits die hard” – the longer you have sustained a habit, the more difficult it can be to resolve the issue.
Many psychological problems may be attributed to a habit of some sort or another. In this article, we will look at some of the more common ones, what can be done about them, and how…
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How to break bad habits
There’s a lot of truth in that old saying: “Old habits die hard” – the longer you have sustained a habit, the more difficult it can be to resolve the issue. Online therapy is not really the way forward, most of the time, though it can sometimes achieve a reasonable result.
We are frequently asked about how to break bad habits and nervous habits and we will consider these situations here.
Really, there is no such thing as a ‘bad’ habit – a habit is just a behaviour pattern that is carried out almost automatically. What the phrase ‘bad habit’ really refers to is a behaviour pattern that is considered undesirable for one reason or another.
As for how to break bad habits, well, some are far easier to deal with than others. Cigarette smoking, for instance, is easily resolved by a face-to-face session with a competent hypnotherapist – a single session is often sufficient. Hypnosis has been shown as being the single most effective means to quit smoking tobacco (New Scientist, 2003). There is no need to be at all concerned about hypnosis; a hypnotised person does not actually feel hypnotised, since there is no such thing as a hypnotised feeling.
Many people fear being ‘out of control’ yet this fear is totally groundless. A hypnotherapist or hypnotist cannot make you do anything you do not want to do, or would not want to do in the normal way. All he or she can do is to help you achieve something that you want to do and achieve it more easily than you would otherwise manage. For more information on hypnosis, look at this page: Hypnosis
Other methods to deal with smoking cessation include NLP and Psychotherapy Acupuncture.
It’s a similar story with nail biting, often considered to be a ‘bad habit’ – as hard as it may be to imagine right now, a single session of hypnosis will often allow the nail biter to cease the habit literally overnight – and however long you have sustained it for, nails soon grow again!
Hypnosis can also be immensely helpful with poor eating habits when it is simply a matter of gaining control over your diet. On its own, it is not so good for conditions such as Anorexia and Bulemia.
If you have a drug or alcohol related habit, then that is something which needs a therapist who specialises in substance abuse and again will require face-to-face sessions. Let us have your location and contact details and we will be able to put you in touch with a competent professional.
Nervous habits – These can include things like sniffing, coughing, hair-twirling, finger-picking, twitching, laughing inappropriately and so on. Some of these things are occasionally based around a medical condition called Tourette’s syndrome but even then it is possible to find some, if not total, relief with the application of right sort of therapy.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
This is not really a habit, though many sufferers, as well as their friends and relatives, may well believe that it is. It is actually a recognised psychological condition for which there is no ‘quick-fix’, as a rule; for more information, check out our obsessive conditions page.
There are many other behaviour patterns that are habit-based; if you want to find out if we can help you, contact us for a free consultation soon.
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