Bad habits come in all shapes and sizes and varying degrees of severity. Placing them into “categories” inevitably involves a degree of overlap depending on how you view the habit e.g. is watching too much television a bad health habit, or a procrastination habit, or both? Certain bad habits can also vary in the specific situation e.g. procrastination can be determined by what distractions are available at the time such as access to television, your phone, snacks etc. and whether you are at home or at work.
Bad habits can be:
- Smoking
- Overeating, binge eating
- Drinking too much
- Emotional eating (aka comfort eating)
- Not having enough or quality sleep
- Taking drugs
- Overmedicating (pain killers, sedatives etc.)
- Gambling
- Nail biting
- Hair pulling (Trichotillomania)
- etc…
Most bad habits are a response to a need, even though this response is maladapted. Most habits are about protecting oneself or make oneself feel better (obviously this is a generalisation, some cases are more complex than that).
With hypnotherapy, we can help the subconscious reassess what need is being addressed and how to respond to it in a healthier, more productive way.