Habits and Disorders

Habits are behaviour patterns that are regularly repeated and tend to occur subconsciously, without directly thinking about them.

Habitual behaviour usually goes unnoticed in the person exhibiting them, because it is unnecessary to engage in self-analysis when undertaking routine tasks.

Habituation is an basic form of learning, in which an organism, after a period of exposure to a certain stimulus, stops responding to that particular stimulus in varied manners. Take, for example, a newborn baby who wakes up (at least) 4 times a night to be fed. After a few weeks the parents hopefully have trained their infant to sleep a little longer (by increasing the amount of milk given as the baby's capacity to digest more milk grows).

All living entities are creatures of habit which helps us to survive in so many ways. However some habits can be destructive and it becomes necessary to break an undesirable routine in order for us to gain control and progress.

As another example, if you were seeking a job as a hair-dresser but had a compulsive habit of pulling your own hair then most of your clients would probably avoid you in case they ended up with little bald patches all over their head.

Or if you were suffering from Bruxism (teeth grinding) the habit would soon wear your teeth down (as well as your partner's patience).

Many habits begin as a stress-response and become established by repetition. Hypnosis can help you to gain control over that habit as it addresses the subconscious mind which is the part of you that controls all habitual behaviour.

One of my daughter's used to chew her nails whenever she felt anxious - it was an habitual response. A slight tap or reminder whenever I saw her doing it eventually brought the habit out of the realms of unconsciousness, allowing her to grow beautifully shaped nails. Hypnosis would have worked far more rapidly had I thought of it at the time.

Index