HABIT REVERSAL TRAINING

Breanna Velez

Habit reversal training (HRT) is completed with a therapist and has four main components:

awareness training, development of a competing response, building motivation and generalization

of skills.

HRT can be used to treat serious habits, tics and even substance abuse.

Patients often seek help when the habit is affecting their life negatively in some

way and they want to change this.

Linda Buzogany (RRCC Abnormal Psychology professor) explains that HRT can take many different forms, even known as the Buddhist tradition of mindfulness.

It dates back to an ancient tradition and requires you to eliminate the daily stresses so you do not use the habit routine and reward to help those stresses.

“We are creatures of immediate reward.” That relaxation feeling you get when life is too much to

take.

In time though this creates a habit and the habit brings on more stress. The damages can often

be grave and cost thousands of dollars.

Teeth of a nail biter.

“People who smoke tend to develop gum disease, persistent bad breath, and other oral hygiene

problems.”

Smokers, alcoholics, nail biters, hair pullers…they are all around us. Normal everyday people. This should worry us. How is it that

so many people are affected? What does this say about us?

We are rarely told to sit down and breathe in the daily stresses of life. The reward people obtain from the routine of the habit provides

this relaxation for them.

Taking the steps to get help from a therapist can allow you to target your habit and find something you can replace the

routine with that something that prevents you from completing the habit. You need to preform this competing

habit every time.

These are two ways to keep yourself from engaging in the habit.

You will gain the willpower and strength you will need to carry out the habit when you are outside of therapy. Also giving you the tools to tackle those daily stresses life loves to throw your

way.

Sources Anthony, Richard. "Changing Habits." MIT Spectrum. MIT, Winter 2001. Web. 05

Sept. 2012. <http://spectrum.mit.edu/articles/normal/changing-habits/>

Brokaw, Leslie. "Improvisations." MIT Sloan Management Review. MIT, 16 May 2012. Web. 05 Sept. 2012. <http://sloanreview.mit.edu/improvisations/2012/05/16/are-habits-more-powerful-than-decisions-marketers-hope-so/>.

Latumahina, Donald. "How to Break Bad Habits and Develop Good Ones." How to Break Bad Habits and Develop Good Ones. Life Optimizer, n.d. Web. 05 Sept. 2012. <http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2012/03/31/how-to-break-bad-habits- and-develop-good-ones/>.

"NIH News in Health." Breaking Bad Habits. Ed. Harrison Wein, Ph.D and Vicki Contie. NIH - News in Health, Jan. 2012. Web. 05 Sept. 2012. <http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/issue/jan2012/feature1>

Duhigg, Charles. "The Golden Rule of Habit Change | World of Psychology." Psych Central. Psych Central, 17 July 2012. Web. 26 Sept. 2012. <http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/07/17/the-golden-rule-of-habit-change/>.