Habits and Obsessions

Habits can look like obsession can look like habits... but it is important to recognise and understand the difference,for the treatment of each varies enormously. Some common situations are shown here, along with information as to what can be done about them and how to do it.

We will have a look at habits first, obsessive behaviour patterns later.

How to break bad habits

You probabaly know that old saying: "Old habits die hard" - and its perfectly true! The longer you have had/experienced a habit, the longer it is likely to take to get yourself free from it. Really, you need face-to-face therapy for this sort of thing, though online therepay can sometimes give quite a good result if you are diligent enough to stay with the process.

People usually want to know something like "how to break bad habits" or sometimes might refer to "nervous habits" so we'll take a look at both situations.

The truth of the matter is that there is really no such thing as a 'bd' habit - no matter how bad or useless it seems, it's just a behaviour that has become automatic. Or almost so, anyway. When people talk about a 'bad' habit, they usually mean that they keep on feeling that they have to do something which is undesirable for one reason or another. 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, for some reason, considered undesirable.

It's far easier to deal with situations of this sort than others, in fact. Smoking tobacco, for example, can usually be fairly easily resolved by one-on-one therapy with a competent hypnotherapist, often only needing 1 -3 sessions. Although some peopl are anxious about the use of hypnosis, some studies (notably in New Scientist in 2003) to be extremely effective. In any case, there is no need for concern about the use of hypnosis because a hypnotised person rarely feels that they are hypnotised, because there is actually no such thing as a 'hypnotised feeling' - it seems astonishingly unremarkable, in fact.

It's not unsual for people to fear being 'out of control' in some way, though there is no basis at all for this fear. The 'hypnotisee' cannot be made to do anything they do not want to do, or antyhing that would be unacceptable to them in the normal way. The therapist's skills can only be employed to help you do something that you already want to do but find difficult without help. 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.

NLP and Acupuncture, are among the other methods that are sometimes used to help with smoking cessation.

Nail biting, is another habit that is often considered to be 'bad' and because it is so automatice can be difficult to get to grips with. As hard as it might seem at this moment, if you have this problem, a single hypnosis session will often 'fix' the habit overnight and no matter how long you have been chewing at them for, they soon grow again!

Another area where hypnosis can be of enormous help is with poor eating habits, although this is really only effective for helping you to get control of your diet. Hypnosis alone is unlikely to be as usefully effective for more profound conditions such as Bulimia and Anorexia.

Drug or alcohol-related haibts really need the services of a therapist who specialises in substance abuse and it will always be via face-to-face sessions.

Nervous habits

Hair twirling, nail-picking, finger-picking, coughing, sniffing, twitching, inappropriate laughter, and similare behaviour patterns are often considered to be 'nervous habits' though are occasionally the result of Tourette's Syndrome. Even in that rare case, the right sort of therapy can provide some relief if not a total alleviation of symptoms. MAny so-called nervous habits respond quickly to vrious forms of therapy, though one-on-one sessions are to be preferred.

Obsessions

And now we come to obsessive behaviour patterns. These conditions are, in fact, far more prevalent than many people realise. It is entirely possible to provide help for most of them, although, in general, there are no reliable quick-fix methods.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ('OCD')

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is the most common of the obsessive conditions. Technically classifed as 'an obsessive thought leading to a compulsive action', obsession can take many forms such as hand-washing every thirty minutes, making lists of almost everything, avoiding pavement cracks, counting the pattern on wallpaper and performing pointless rituals of various sorts. Some of those are listed here, though there are countless more - probably an infinte number in fact:

• Leaving a room
• Parking the car
• Going to bed
• Travelling to work
• Making a telephone call
• Reading a newspaper or magazine

There will typically be no logical purpose associated with the rituals employed, though is stopped, the individual will start to suffer anxiety, so it is likely that the rituals are a kind of 'displacement activity' which helps to keep nxiety under control. A sufferer might feel compelled to arrange ornaments in perfect order, perhaps smallest to largest or the other way round,. They might line them up with exactly the same distance between them and get irritated if somebody disturbs the pattern. The might turn a light swith on and off a set number of times - and it will always be the same number each time - in fact, repetition is the 'giveaway' that there is an obsessive problem... but it only is a problem if the 'sufferer' is concerned about it. Often, they are not.

All of this means that many tasks can take an individualmuch longer than they otherwise would, sometimes three of four times as long. They are not to acbieve anything by this behaviour; it is driven by a fear that something awful might happen if they don't do it. The rituals must be completed and no amoutn of irritation or logic on anybody else's part will make the tinest bit of difference... excpet to increase the anxiety levels which will make the problems worse.

One of the mildest forms of this disorder is the need for extreme tidiness and order. Objects on shelves, tins in cupboards, contents of refrigerators, mantlepieces, window sills and table tops mut always be arranged in a certain way - frequently centred perfectly and, as mentioned above, exaclty the distance apart from each other.

Probably the worst form of this illness - for illness it is - is often completely invisible to the outside observer, for it consists of repetitive thought process, repeating in the mind over and over again to the point of exhaustion, yet interruting sleep. Sometimes, these thoughts are of what are considered to be an inappropriate nature in some way, causing feelings of great shame and distress. These might include:

• A wish to severely offend others, perhasp by swearing
• Obsessions with sexual functions such as masturbation
• Urges to spit at others
• Fears of suddenly jumping from high places
• Fear of, or fasciantion with, the bodily functions of others
• Fears of throwing oneself into the path of trains or traffic
• Sexually 'interfering' with children (though paedophilia is not usually present)

Emetophobia (fear of vomit or vomiting) can be a 'version' of OCD, as can extreme sexual jealousy, especially of past sexual partners of a current partner..

Tourette's Syndrome and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) are also both often considered to be obsessive illnesss.

Ther are few effective ways of dealing with obsessive illnesses and certainly they do not respond to online therapies or telephone work. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is currently considerd to be the most effective therapy, sometimes combined with hypnosis to reinforce the process.

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