Skip to main content

Conditions: Habit Problems/Habit Disorders

What are habit disorders?

Habit disorders can be very common. Habit disorders are linked together by the presence of repetitive and relatively stable behaviours that seem to occur beyond awareness of the person performing the behaviour or without apparent motivation or clear reason.

The habit becomes problematic when it leads to undesirable and negative results. Procrastination, nose-picking, hair-pulling, nail-biting, lip biting, pathological stealing, mild substance use or overeating are examples of common habit disorders. Individuals with habit disorders report an uncomfortable urge that is satisfied by doing a particular behaviour. The feeling of relief that follows reinforces the behaviour/habit. Individuals with habit disorders are also more likely to act on these behavioural urges in situations that cause them stress or strong emotions.

#food #disorder #eating

Are your difficulties linked to anything specific?

  • Hair pulling (trichotillomania)

  • Nail biting

  • Skin picking

  • Compulsive stealing (kleptomania)

  • Procrastination

#kleptomania #trichotillomania #habit #behaviour

When to seek help?

  • You feel unable to stop yourself from carrying out your habit

  • Your habit is leading to undesirable and disruptive effects on your work, social life, financial stability, or appearance

Treatment recommendations

Habit Reversal Therapy (HRT) and related behavioural techniques have been found effective in treatment and management of habit disorders. However, the selected treatment would be individually tailored to your needs following a comprehensive assessment process in our service, depending on the nature of your difficulty.

#HRT

Back to What We Do Page

Back to Top
linkedin