You Can Use Hypnosis To Break The Nail Biting Habit

Nail biting is related to skin picking and hair pulling. These behaviors are labeled as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders. People who bite their nails often keep their hands in their pockets. People who bite their nails often feel shame and social embarrassment and experience out-of-control feelings at times. They often wonder why they cannot stop and they often question whether or not they are crazy.

Biting generally happens when nail biters are in one of two modes. Some biters do it in an automatic way, as if they are in a trance and not really thinking about what they are doing. It is often when they are involved in some other activity at the same time such as reading or talking, etc. For others, their main activity at the time is the actual picking or biting, and they will frequently interrupt other activities to engage in it.

There is a strong commonality in the purposes behind nail biting, skin picking and hair pulling. At the most basic level, these symptoms satisfy an urge. Many people report an almost uncontrollable urge to do them. Pulling, picking or biting also seems to deliver a pleasurable or relaxed sensation.

When sufferers feel stressed, pulling, picking or biting has a kind of soothing effect on them and reduces levels of stimulation. On the other hand, when they are bored or inactive, they seem to provide a needed level of stimulation to the nervous system. This probably accounts for why so many people who suffer from these habits find it so hard to stop. It simply "feels good" at the time no matter what the consequences.

Even if you have more than one of these problems, do not give up on yourself. These symptoms can be overcome if you have a sufficient amount of motivation. More important is learning to "de-stigmatize" yourself. You are not crazy, helpless, morally weak or totally out of control, even though you may feel like some or all of these things at times. Once you get down to realizing that you are just a person who simply happens to have a bad habit, you can make some serious progress.

Skin picking and nail biting are chronic problems, so there currently isn't a "cure" but you can find relief if you are willing to work at it. Hypnotherapy for nail biting consists of three parts.

Hypnotherapy & NLP For Nail Biting

To start with, nail biting is a stress related habit. So the first part of the hypnotic therapy is to teach the nail biter how to be more relaxed at all times. To that end, I believe that traditional hypnosis, Ericksonian hypnosis, and Neuro-Linguistic Programming techniques are very often quite effective. That's because the very essence of hypnosis is relaxation. The individual can learn to apply several different methods to enhance both the relaxed state, as well as his/her overall feeling of relaxation and well-being.

The second part of the therapy teaches the nail biter awareness of this unconscious habit. Suggestions can be given to the unconscious to make the conscious mind aware that you are bringing your hand towards your mouth for the purpose of biting your nails. Then you get to consciously decide whether or not you are actually going to bite them.

There are also several other powerful hypnosis and NLP methods. For example, we can help the client to set up an "Anchor" or trigger so that he/she can momentarily mentally step outside of him/herself. This is an excellent method that will effectively relieve the compulsion.

The third part of the hypnotic therapy is to eliminate the compulsion to nail bite. There are NLP methods that actually program the client with a compulsion to reject biting his/her nails.

With the biting habit, being realistic is very important. First off, you have rehearsed the unwanted habit thousands of times. You need to accept that this behavior will not be overcome in a few weeks.

Secondly, you are fighting the fact that biting your nails feels good to do, and it offers a lot of short-term satisfaction and either stimulation or soothing feelings. It takes time and effort to master, but I believe that it is well worth it. Experience has shown a number of methods to be extremely effective!