subject: How To Break The Nail Biting Habit [print this page] If you have ever attempted to stop your nail biting habit, you know just how trying is. Perhaps you have worn gloves or bandages over your fingernails, or tried flavored nail polish. Likely they worked for a short time, but ultimately you found yourself with chewed-up nails and bleeding cuticles once again.
The reason that a superficial nail biting cure is unlikely to succeed makes sense when the underlying cause for the behavior is examined. The nail biting habit is chronic and similar in nature to other stress-related manners, like skin picking and hair pulling. Basically, these behaviors fulfill a natural impulse; thus if the urge is not satiated or eliminated, the behavior will restart. No amount of bitter nail polish will curb the need for nail biting or give the sense of relaxation you get after nibbling on your nails.
In that vein, someone cannot actually cure nail biting, but do not despair: Thankfully, time-tested remedies that can aid in recovery are available. There is a three-step plan that can successfully stop nail biting if you are motivated to do so. The elemental step involves hypnosis.
For people who are not familiar, hypnosis conjures pictures of people watching swinging pendulums or barking on stage for others' entertainment. Rest assured that at its source, hypnosis is only deep relaxation in a trance-like state. Many mistakenly think that hypnotic trances are like sleep, but you are fully conscious and awake, simply more relaxed and receptive to suggestion.
In fact, most of us experience some kind of self-hypnosis daily, during periods when we disregard most of the disruptions around us to concentrate on a particular task while staying fully conscious. It happens readily while we watch television, daydream or read.
Because nail biting is stress related, the more effectively you can work through and release tension and anxiety, the more triumphant your move to stop nail biting will be. The main goal of hypnotherapy is to show you how to maintain a relaxed state always.
You are encouraged to examine numerous hypnosis options, such as traditional hypnosis, Ericksonian hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming techniques, to improve both the state of relaxation and to realize a better sense of well-being. A skilled hypnotherapist will know which type is ultimately best.
The following step to curbing a nail biting tendency is to become aware of the behavior since nail biting is performed unconsciously. Hypnotherapy is effective for this part of the plan, as communing with the unconscious mind to produce the conscious mind's knowledge that you are going to bite your nails can help significantly. This allows you to make the decision to bite your nails. And because hypnotherapy has previously assisted to relieve the main stress, the strong desire to bite your nails has been notably decreased, or even eliminated.
The conclusive step for using hypnotherapy to stop biting nails is to completely remove the fundamental wish to chew or bite. There are methods that can effectively program you with a craving to stop biting your nails, because just as behaviors can be effectively curbed with hypnosis CD's, they can also be initiated.
Hypnosis CD's are helpful with ending behaviors like biting your nails because, though the hypnosis will not miraculously produce complete willpower, it can fortify your motivation and make certain that choices you decide while in a hypnotic state will still remain when you are in duress. Furthermore, hypnotherapy can help you commune with your unconscious mind to get it to parallel your conscious mind so both entities adhere to your goal.
It is important to note that some likely hypnosis clients have a worry of having suggestions planted or of recalling "hidden" memories during a trance. Rest assured that hypnotherapists are formally taught and accredited and abide by the rigorous professional and ethical procedures. The processes used by hypnotherapists to make useful suggestions to your unconscious are entirely distinct from those employed or used during memory recall or age regression. So the use of hypnotherapy for efficiently ending the impulse to bite your nails will not lead to unintended behaviors or memories.
CONCLUSION: Nail biting is a compulsion like any other, and resolve alone is usually not enough to refrain from the behavior. Using hypnotherapy or hypnosis CDs and all other resources available will more likely lead to a comfortable, successful end to your nail biting.
