Hello and welcome to this week's edition of Adam Up,
Although the new month does not officially start until tomorrow, we are pressing on with our new theme this month... We are looking at a month filled with overcoming unwanted habits!
In the next few weeks, I am going to be looking at some techniques and processes for overcoming unwanted habits. The sort of habits we are going to be able to deal with using these processes are habits such as biting fingernails, pulling hair, picking at yourself and so on.
I thought I'd start with a look at the classic habit reversal process before I got into anything else. Classic habit reversal is a wonderful process from the field of cognitive behavioural therapy that I have found to be a very important part of my therapeutic work with clients.
There is a large body of evidence to support this process and I'd really recommend that if you are a therapist looking to use this kind of technique or strategy, then you need to go and study it in a lot more depth than I am offering up here. I'd start by looking at the work of Azrin and Nunn and see if you can even track down a copy of their book 'Habit Control In A Day' which explains this in much more depth.
I am offering up a lightweight version here for anyone to use, though its effects are amplified with the addition of self-hypnosis.
In order for habit reversal to be effective, there is some preparatory work for you to complete and enhance the effectiveness of the process. You want to have an awareness of what you do, how you do it, the conditions under which you do the habit and so on.
Before we begin with the actual process itself then, firstly, get sat down somewhere that you'll be undisturbed, I recommend you write down the answers to this exploration in order that you get an accurate account and it'll help you when it comes to repeating this process. It is a process that requires plenty of repetition.
Firstly, just become aware of the habit itself. Write down and describe what it is that you actually do - what is your unwanted habit?
With that written down, now heighten your awareness of the habit even more and make a note of how you do it, by that I mean the actual physical process of doing the habit, how is it done? Think about how often it happens - you might guess or even count it by how many tiems you do it an hour or a day.
With that awareness of the actual habit enhanced, now we want to establish what sorts of situations the habit occurs in. So secondly, write down and describe the circumstances when the habit typically occurs. Note down any common element of the habit, such as whether there are other people with you, or if you are engaged in a particular activity or if it happens at certain events. What situation is it that the habit typically happens in?
Now we are going to go a little bit deeper into you; the vehicle of the habit. Thirdly then, when the habit happens, how do you feel? What is the actual physical sensation you have when you do the habit? Whereabouts in your body are those feelings? Do you have an emotional feeling? Are there any accompanying emotions that go with the habit?
Write this stuff down and we carry on now to look at your cognitions. When you engage in the habit, what happens inside your head? What thoughts, ideas, or beliefs happen? What is your internal dialogue before, during and after the habit?
With all of that information noted down, we are now going to write a couple of things down to use with our self-hypnosis habit reversal process later on.
Firstly, think of a positive statement that you can say to yourself in the future when you are in those typical situations where the habit used to occur? What is a positive, powerful and helpful statement that you can say to yourself; write down a new cognition.
Word it in the present tense, from your own personal, first person perspective e.g. I am strong, I can do this, I have beautiful fingernails etc. Word it in your own way, but be sure it is something that is going to really help you deal with the problematic situations in the future.
Then we have the most important part of the entire process. What counter-habit action could you do that will physically prevent you from doing the old unwanted habit?
For example, if you had a clenched fist, you'd be unable to bite your fingernails, wouldn't you? If you relaxed your facial muscles, you'd be unable to clench your jaw? Think of some physical action that you can do to replace and counteract the habit, to make it impossible for you to do the old habit.
Now you have all that written down, we are ready to begin.
