Controlling Bad Habits, & Phobias
Copyright © 2006
The brain allows well used actions such as typing and driving to become automatic actions. We don’t have to think about them. These automatic actions support phobias and bad habits. To stop them one must understand how they work.
Bad habits can be changed but it takes repeated effort. To gain voluntary control of the action the following has to happen:
It sometimes helps to practice the bad habit after it occurs involuntarily. In this way you are controlling the action that was previously uncontrollable. Practicing the unwanted behavior of stuttering right after it occurred involuntarily, has helped a high percentage of those who have tried it to alleviate stuttering. Within a couple of weeks of practicing stuttering, it disappeared altogether.
Phobias and can also be changed. Phobias have images that continue to plague the mind. If these are control enough to slow them down, the images can be mutated to something more pleasant.
For example, flying on a plane may bring images of crashing and burning for some people. If those images are slowed down and thought about for a while instead of letting them flash through over and over again to whip up emotion, they can be mentally reversed. Instead of allowing the image to end in crashing and burning, it could be imagined that there was burning; only it was not the plane. Instead, the plane dipped near something that was burning, but the plane was alright and continued on, arriving perfectly as planned. Use your creativity. If you can image crashing and burning, you can image other scenarios also. The main thing is to get control of your thoughts, edit them, and make them harmless. (Also see: Overcoming Phobias )
Baars, B. J. (1988). A cognitive theory of consciousness). Chap. 7, pp. 276-279.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
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