Most people find stopping their nail biting extremely difficult. Changing a habit successfully means having a good support network. People who will support and assist you when you need encouragement should be included. Friends, family and professional resources all can be part of your support network.
1. Positive Reinforcement Helps With Behavior Changes Changing a habit is difficult. But without the support of friends or positive influences it can be even more of a challenge.
By informing your support network and friends of your plans, they will be ready to assist you. The public announcement reinforces your intent which helps in quitting.
New activities or a change in environment can be most important during the first critical days and weeks of your stop nail biting plan.
Negative feedback is used by many people to change their behavior. As a child many of us were yelled at by our parents. But did the yelling give your parents the behavior they wanted? In contrast, the times you were praised made you much more willing to repeat that behavior.
It's no different as an adult. Use positive reinforcement and people to reinforce your plan to change your nail biting habit.
Avoid people who bite their nails. If the person is a family member or close friend, this may be difficult. Minimize times or situations where you frequently bite your nails.
2. Successful Behavior Deserves Rewards Changes in behavior occur more easily when reinforced. Your brain registers the positive reinforcement or reward as part of the new behavior plan.
Reinforcing the new behavior sends a signal to the brain to override or minimize the old habit. Daily reinforcement makes new behavioral reaction patterns in your brain. All of this focus on the new behavior allows you to stay on track for stopping your nail biting habit.
Elaborate or large awards are not needed for reinforcement. Some people use colorful stickers mounted on a calendar. For each day you meet your goal you post a sticker on the calendar. If a whole day is too much to consider, then take it hour by hour. It may seem childish, but all those stickers lined up can be very good reminder of the progress you've made.
If stickers aren't your thing, then make your reward something special for you, a reward you value. The reward doesn't have to be big or even expensive. The idea is to reward yourself for each successful step you take in stopping the nail biting habit.
3. Join a support network on or offline Having other people going through the same experience as you gives people who can support you on those difficult or stressful days. Check with Yahoo or AOL groups for a nail biting support group. Frequently message boards or forums on dieting will also have a conversation thread about stopping nail biting. Or just type "nail biting support group" or "nail biting forum" into your browser search window. You can use MSN, Google, Yahoo, AOL or any search engine browser can quickly connect you with people sharing the same experience.
Be gentle with yourself. Nail biting took time to learn. Now give yourself time and the effort to stop.
If you have ever tried to stop your nail biting habit, you understand just how difficult it can be. Perhaps you have worn gloves or bandages over your fingertips, or tried bitter-flavored nail polish. Maybe they worked for a little while, but ultimately you found yourself with worn nails and torn cuticles once again.
The reason that a surface nail biting cure is not likely to be successful makes sense when the cause of the behavior is looked at. The nail biting habit is chronic and very similar in nature to other stress-related activities, including skin picking and hair pulling. At the core, these actions fill an intrinsic inclination; thus if the urge is not satiated or eliminated, the behavior will return. No amount of bitter nail polish will curb the need for nail biting or bring the sense of relaxation you feel after nibbling on your nails.
In that vein, someone cannot actually cure nail biting, but do not worry: Fortunately, time-tested remedies that can aid in recovery are available. There is a three-step treatment that can successfully stop nail biting if you are committed to do so. The essential step involves hypnosis.
For people who are not familiar, hypnosis conjures ideas of people watching swinging pendulums or barking on stage for others' enjoyment. Rest assured that at its core, hypnosis is only deep relaxation in a trance-like state. Many people erroneously think that hypnotic trances are like sleep, but you are fully conscious and awake, simply more relaxed and open to suggestion.
In fact, most of people go through some kind of self-hypnosis daily, during times when we disregard most of the distractions around us to concentrate on special task while staying fully conscious. It transpires effortlessly while we watch television, daydream or read.
Because nail biting is related to stress, the more effectively you can release and work through tension and anxiety, the more winning your move to stop nail biting will be. The basic target of hypnotherapy is to teach you how to live in a relaxed state continuously.
You are encouraged to try several different hypnosis options, such as traditional hypnosis, Ericksonian hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming techniques, to add to both the state of relaxation and to get a better sense of happiness. A competent hypnotherapist will know which kind is ultimately best.
The following step to curbing a nail biting problem is to become conscious of the action since nail biting is executed unconsciously. Hypnotherapy is very helpful for this stage, as communicating with the unconscious mind to activate the conscious mind's awareness that you are about to bite your nails can help deeply. This allows you to make the choice to bite your nails or not. And given that hypnotherapy has previously helped alleviate the main stress, the powerful compulsion to bite your nails has been greatly minimized, or even eradicated.
The conclusive action for using hypnotherapy to cease biting nails is to fully eliminate the fundamental wish to bite or chew. There are ways that can effectively program you with a compulsion to renounce biting your nails, because just as practices can be broken due to hypnosis, they can be started.
Hypnotherapy is helpful with decreasing behaviors like biting your nails because, though the hypnosis will not suddenly generate absolute strength of will, it can fortify your resolve and ensure that choices you make while in a stress-free state will still remain when you are under stress. Furthermore, hypnotherapy can help you communicate with your unconscious mind to get it to support your conscious mind so both entities support your aim.
It should be noted that some potential hypnosis clients have a worry of having ideas planted or of experiencing "hidden" memories during a trance. Rest assured that hypnotherapists are officially taught and accredited and abide by the strictest ethical and professional guidelines. The systems used by hypnotherapists to make valuable suggestions to your unconscious are entirely distinct from the ones employed or used during memory recall or age regression. So the use of hypnotherapy for effectively stopping the impulse to bite your nails will not result in unintended behaviors or memories.
CONCLUSION: Nail biting is drive like any other, and self-control alone is usually not enough to stop the behavior. Using hypnotherapy or hypnosis CDs and all other resources available will more likely result in a comfortable, successful end to your nail biting.
Both Sunny Dulane & Alan Densky are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Sunny Dulane has sinced written about articles on various topics from Family Travel, Yoga. Want to easily stop nail biting? Hypnosis can help stop nail biting quickly. Quit biting your nails in the comfort of your home.. Sunny Dulane's top article generates over 3600 views. to your Favourites.
Alan Densky has sinced written about articles on various topics from Hypnotherapy, Alternative Medicine and Hypnotherapy. Alan B. Densky, CH has spent years helping thousands of clients . His. Alan Densky's top article generates over 49500 views. to your Favourites.