With the majority of physical habits, the underlying causes may be quite varied, and at different psychological levels. Although hypnotherapy has a wide range of uses, the problems that are most directly related to physical habits are usually the ones that can be treated with hypnotherapy most quickly and directly. Smoking cessation hypnosis is the most well known of these, and is among the most effective and less invasive techniques for reaching its goal. Another popular area for hypnotherapy treatment is for weight loss. Similarly, hypnotherapy is also the most effective technique for conquering a nail biting habit.

The nail biting habit has much in common with smoking. Both are ritualistic, physical habits. Either might be caused by the mechanics of a simple physical routine, or can be symptomatic of deeper psychological issues. And in either case the habit itself can be quite effectively halted with hypnotherapy.

Discovering and treating underlying psychological problems, which manifest themselves in nail biting or smoking can be a process that requires a series of sessions with a knowledgeable hypnotherapist. Not all hypnotists and hypnotherapists are capable of working at the deep psychological level. Thankfully, for the purposes of ending a nail biting or a smoking habit, they don't need to work below the most direct physical level.

The more immediate goal of  is much more straightforward.  Many of our deeper psychological and emotional states are influenced by our physical state, so in solving physical conditions directly, we are also able to have an indirect impact on deeper issues. Additionally, not all negative physical habits have an underlying cause; sometimes it is merely just a physical habit; and it "feels" good for the individual to take part in them.

I have seen that the focused and relaxed state of hypnosis can have nearly miraculous results when used in causing simple changes to one's physical state. Whenever I relieve severe burn pain, remove nausea, and solve other physical issues for a client in just seconds, it still amazes and surprises me, even though I'm supposedly the one with the "power" (as we know, the true power exists in the client's unconscious mind). The capabilities exist in each of our minds to block severe pain and nausea; so the ability to prevent one from  is a modest goal in comparison.

I've found three of the powerful aspects of hypnotherapy to be association, substitution and anchoring. With association, one can link a negative behavior to something truly unpleasant; with substitution, one may replace the bad habit with a harmless one; with anchoring, one may connect physical movement triggers with alternative feelings and behaviors.

With association, just like the simple hypnosis trick can make a piece of white bread taste like the most delicious New York Cheesecake to a subject, one can make the taste and feeling of nail biting to be extremely distasteful. If your subject is repeatedly conditioned to believe that the taste and feel of nail biting is very unpleasant, it will help the habit to disappear.

There are chemical products that achieve this goal via foul tasting nail polish. However, with a mental association they can stop nail biting without relying on applying a chemical product. This "aversion" type of therapy generally isn't very helpful. But it is reliable only when used as an adjunct to eliminating stress that causes one to bite their nails, as well as extinguishing conditioned responses (unconscious associations), which triggers one to bite their nails.

Using substitution, it can be very effective to replace the  with a more benign compulsion. For instance, it is quite effective to make the suggestion that whenever one feels the urges that lead them towards nail biting, they will instead take a deep breath, and slowly exhale, achieving all the satisfaction and resolution that nail biting used to bring. I have found the deep breathing substitute to be effective and relaxing for a wide variety of ailments.

Similarly, anchoring can be used to subvert one action into a different one, and works well with the association and substitution techniques. It is useful in creating the suggestion that each and every time subjects see their fingers coming to their mouth, they strongly remember the unpleasant taste association, and they instead take a deep breath to relieve the tension.

Hypnotherapy has long been established as one of the best methods for negative behavior modification. Just as with smoking cessation, the techniques and concepts discussed here prove to be very effective as a long-term nail-biting cure.