The underlying causes of the majority physical habits may be quite varied, and rooted at different psychological levels. Although hypnotherapy has a wide range of applications, the problems that are most directly related to physical habits are usually the ones that can be treated with hypnotherapy most directly and immediately. Smoking cessation hypnosis is the most commonly recognized of these, and is among the most effective and least invasive techniques for reaching its goal. Another popular area for hypnotherapy treatment is for weight control. Similarly, hypnotherapy is also the best technique for ending a nail biting habit.

Nail biting shares many similarities to smoking. It is a ritualistic, physical habit. Either might be caused by the mechanics of a physical routine, or can be symptomatic of deeper psychological root causes. In either case the habit itself can be effectively stopped with hypnotherapy. 
Discovering and treating underlying psychological issues, which manifest themselves in nail biting and smoking can be a process that requires several sessions with a knowledgeable hypnotherapist. However, not all hypnotists and hypnotherapists are capable of performing at the deep psychological level. Fortunately, for the purposes of ending a nail biting or a smoking habit, they don't need to work below the most direct physical level.

The more immediate goal of finding a nail biting cure is much more straightforward. Many of our deeper psychological and emotional states are impacted by our physical state, so in solving the physical symptoms directly, we can also have an indirect impact on deeper issues. Also, not all negative physical habits have an underlying cause; sometimes it is merely just a physical habit; and it just "feels" good for the person to take part in them.

In my experience, the focused and relaxed state of hypnosis can have nearly miraculous results when it comes to achieving simple changes to one's physical state. Whenever I relieve severe burn pain, alleviate nausea, and eliminate other physical problems for a client in just a few seconds, it still amazes me, even though I'm supposedly the one with the "power" (as we know, the true power lies in the client's unconscious mind). Our minds have the capacity to block out severe nausea and pain; so the ability to prevent one from nail biting is a relatively modest goal in comparison.

I have found three of the most powerful hypnotic techniques to be anchoring, substitution and association. With association, one can link a negative behavior to something truly unpleasant; with substitution, one may replace the bad habit with a harmless one; with anchoring, one may link physical movement triggers with alternative feelings and behaviors.

With association, just like the simple hypnotic phenomenon can make a piece of white bread taste like a delectable slice of New York Cheesecake to a subject, one can make the feeling and taste of nail biting to be very distasteful. If your subject is repeatedly conditioned to feel that the taste and feel of nail biting is extremely unpleasant, it will help the habit to disappear. 

There are chemical products that achieve this goal via foul tasting nail polish. However, with a mental association it is easy to stop nail biting without relying on using a chemical product. This "aversion" type of therapy generally is not extremely helpful. But it is reliable only when used as an adjunct to eliminating stress that causes one to bite their nails, as well as extinguishing conditioned responses (unconscious associations), which triggers one to bite their nails.

Substitution can be used to effectively replace the nail biting habit with a more benign habit. For instance, it is quite effective to place the suggestion that whenever one feels the urges that lead them towards nail biting, they will take a deep breath instead, and slowly exhale, achieving all the same feelings and resolution that nail biting used to bring. I have found the deep breathing substitute to be effective for a wide range of ailments. 

Similarly, anchoring can be used to subvert one action into a different one, and works well in combination with the association and substitution techniques. It is useful to create the suggestion that each time subjects see their fingers coming to their mouth, they vividly recall the bad taste association, and that they instead take that deep breath to relieve the tension.

Hypnosis has long been recognized as one of the most effective methods for negative habit modification. Just as with smoking cessation, the techniques and concepts outlined here prove to be extremely effective as a long-term nail-biting solution.

Alan B. Densky, CH has been helping clients with stress related symptoms since 1978. He offers an inclusive seven-session hypnotherapy stop nail biting MP3 based on NLP and Ericksonian Hypnosis. Visit his hypnotherapy site for free articles on hypnosis, and advice.

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