Hypnotism for Trichotillomania and Nail Biting

Stress and Anxiety can affect people's lives in many ways, two of them are Onychophagia and Trichotillomania, commonly known as Nail Biting and Hair Pulling. Belonging to the greater field of Self Harming Behaviors, beside affecting the health of those who suffer from them Nail Biting and Trichotillomania affect also their social life. No one likes to see nails bitten to flesh or hairless spots on head, eyebrows or beard. And surely no one likes to see someone while doing it. Usually performed while alone Hair Pulling and Nail Biting are negative habits which can be quite successfully addressed with Hypnotism.

As usual if you suffer from one of them you are strongly advised to consult your doctor first.

There are reasons why habits or ocd (obsessive compulsive disorders) like Trichotillomania and Onychophagia are developed as an answer to rising tensions, anxiety and highly stressing situations; and usually these reasons lie in the first 10 or 20 years of life. Now, I won't go into the minefield of digging into your mind and memories to search for those reasons, first because it's a job that must be done by someone with very much experience and knowledge in the field of Psychotherapy (from Bachelor degree up), second because I don't believe much in the usefulness of digging the dirt out since sometimes you just never end digging. I find much more useful to give tools to deal with issues from now on. And Hypnotism is just perfect for that.

What has usually happened is that somewhere in your life you felt very tense, or very stressed, or very anxious, or something similar and either biting your nail or pulling your hair moved your attention from the source of your stress to something else thus relieving your tension. Moreover the pain you felt, beside distracting you even more gave two important results:

1. The further release of endorphins giving you relaxation and a sense of well-being.
2. A link, the so called anchor, between pain and the release of tension, reinforcing the connection between them. Anxiety-Distraction/Pain-Well-Being/Pleasure

After repeating this behaviour for some times it becomes a habit, that is a learned automatic response to a situation, like any time you feel nervous your hand automatically reaches your pocket and put a cigarette in your mouth. Your Subconscious Mind gets trained to answer on his own to stimuli and the Conscious Mind most of the times is not even aware of it. Think about when you learned to drive a car, it's just the same thing.

Now, how can we get rid of them?

My solution is this:

1. Giving you a Quick Stress Release anchor
2. Giving you the instructions to have the Conscious Mind aware when your hand goes toward your mouth or your hair so you can stop either Trichotillomania or Nail Biting.

Before going on be sure to read my hubs on Self Hypnosis Induction and Write your own Suggestions as they are the basis of every Hypnotism session.

Desired outcome: establish an easy way to feel relaxed when needed.

As Anchor I used tapping your middle finger on your thumb, but feel free to substitute it as you like, just use an action easy to perform but not usual to you.

Say to yourself:

Dear subconscious, I KNOW that sometimes I feel quite nervous, or stressed, or tensed, or anxious, or simply annoyed; and that's natural. Now what I'd like to do is to establish a new permanent directive that any time I feel like that just tapping my middle finger on my thumb I CAN instantly release any tension and make me calm, relaxed and confident. I'm sure you agree that this will surely improve our life for the better.

NOW, I KNOW THAT ANY TIME I FEEL NERVOUS BY SIMPLY TAPPING MY MIDDLE FINGER ON MY THUMB I CAN INSTANTLY RELEASE ANY TENSION AND BE CALM, RELAXED AND CONFIDENT.

I WANT THAT ANY TIME I FEEL NERVOUS BY SIMPLY TAPPING MY MIDDLE FINGER ON MY THUMB I INSTANTLY RELEASE ANY TENSION AND BE CALM, RELAXED AND CONFIDENT.

Repeat the above two sentences three times.

FROM NOW ON ANY TIME I FEEL NERVOUS BY SIMPLY TAPPING MY MIDDLE FINGER ON MY THUMB I INSTANTLY RELEASE ANY TENSION AND BE CALM, RELAXED AND CONFIDENT.

Repeat three times.

IMAGINE THE ACHIEVED OUTCOME AND FEEL HOW YOUR LIFE WILL CHANGE FOR THE BETTER. TAP YOUR FINGERS WHILE FEELING CALM, RELAXED AND CONFIDENT.

DAILY REPETITION: USE THE I CAN SENTENCE: SIMPLY TAPPING MY MIDDLE FINGER ON MY THUMB I CAN INSTANTLY RELEASE ANY TENSION AND BE CALM, RELAXED AND CONFIDENT.

Desired outcome: to become instantly aware when your hand is going to your hair to pull or to your mouth to be bitten.

Trichotillomania:

Say to yourself:

Dear subconscious, WE KNOW that sometimes when I feel quite nervous, or stressed, or tensed, or anxious, or simply annoyed I discharge tensions by pulling my hair. And WE BOTH KNOW that we now have a better way to discharge tension and to feel calm, relaxed and confident (TAP YOUR FINGERS TWO OR THREE TIMES). Now what I'd like to do is to establish a new permanent directive that any time I feel like that I want to be instantly made aware if my hand is going to my hair to pull them. I'm sure you agree that this will surely improve our life for the better.

NOW, I KNOW THAT ANY TIME MY HAND GOES TOWARD MY HAIR TO PULL THEM I CAN BE INSTANTLY AWARE OF IT.

I WANT THAT ANY TIME MY HAND GOES TOWARD MY HAIR TO PULL THEM I AM INSTANTLY AWARE OF IT.

Repeat the above two sentences three times.

FROM NOW ON ANY TIME MY HAND GOES TOWARD MY HAIR TO PULL THEM I AM INSTANTLY AWARE OF IT.

Repeat three times.

IMAGINE THE ACHIEVED OUTCOME AND FEEL HOW YOUR LIFE WILL CHANGE FOR THE BETTER.

REPETITION: USE THE I CAN SENTENCE.

Nail Biting:

Substitute ANY TIME MY HAND GOES TOWARD MY HAIR TO PULL THEM with ANY TIME MY HAND GOES TOWARD MY MOUTH TO HAVE MY NAILS BITTEN.

Nail Biting and Trichotillomania are quite common negative habits which affect lives of those who suffer from them in many aspects: social life, work life, health, self image... The important thing is that as they have been developed they can also be stopped. Believe that you can do it and you'll do it.

Remember to establish the Quick Stress Release before going on dealing with Hand Awareness and to give yourself time to make them happen. And be trustful that Hypnotism can help you, because it will.

I hope that you enjoyed this hub and that it will be useful to you or someone you love; if you need any clarification or would like any other topic to be discussed feel free to leave a comment about it.

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