Case Studies

Case Study A: Biting Nails

A mother once came to me with her daughter. She wanted to know how to help her to get rid of her nail-
biting habit. She was a funny, healthy little girl who didn’t seem prone to anxiety or particularly stressed.
She had just developed this little habit, probably out of boredom, and now, her fingertips looked more like
a battlefield than anything else.

It remembered me of my mother who had tried everything to get rid of biting her nails. At one point she
even put a special nail product on them, so putting the nails at her lips would just taste horrible. Yeah, that
didn’t help either. The thing that did eventually solve it, was putting false nails on top of the real ones, so
she simply wouldn’t be able to access her nails. In the mean time, her nails would grow back, and she got
rid of this habit.

So let’s analyse the habit of biting nails from a trigger/action/reward perspective, and let’s see how to deal
with it from each angle.

1. First the trigger. What is the trigger for biting nails? It could be boredom. It could be stress. It could be
a more compulsive behavior linked to nail size or something similar.
So How can we replace the trigger? Avoiding stress or boredom is mostly impossible. If nail size is the
problem, we could start the new habit of checking our nails during our morning routing and adjust size
when and where necessary
2. So let’s have a look at the Action. The biting itself. My mother’s solution of false nails was quite as-
tute, as that was just making the action itself impossible. I guess we could find similar solutions, like
wearing gloves, or more extreme, wearing a mouthpiece for dental protection, so the teeth become un-
available for the action.
3. Last but not least, the reward. Now what exactly is the reward for biting nails? Most people who do
bite their nails are aware of how awful their fingers look, and still, that’s not enough to stop them. In
case of compulsive behavior, biting their nails gives them a feeling of relief. there’s something about
those nails that iritate them, and biting them off calms that irritation. And that relief is the reward. So,
here we have two options: or we can try to scare them away from biting their nails, An example of that
was the nail product to give the nails a horrible taste. Or we can give an even bigger reward for NOT
biting their nails. And that’s what I successfully did with the little girl. She was promised a nice toy if
she would stop biting her nails. Something she really wanted. Her mother had to remind her several
times to stop, but after only a week, the bad habit was broken, and the promiss of the toy did the rest.
A case of classical operant conditioning, thank you Dr. Skinner.
Case Study B: Smoking

Now smoking is a tough cookie to crack.

I myself smoked for 15 years (but did quit 10 years ago) and so I know first hand how hard it is.

First there is the physical addiction to the nicotine. Luckily, nicotine leaves the body quite ra-
pidly, so in less than a week you shouldn't feel the physical urge anymore to smoke.

However, the psychological addiction is the real en-

emy. it will stay with you for years, and even when you think you won, it's enough to face a cri-
sis of some sort, and the temptation will be back again. As explained the connection doesn't disap-
pear. And even if it isn't used anymore, it's still there.

In this case, we can also use the trigger/action/reward. Identify all three of them, and try to find substi-
tutes.

1. Trigger: when/where/what triggers your smoking habit? Identify the mo-

ments and then try to avoid them, substitute them or associate them with a new action
2. Action: this is the smoking itself. Is there something you could substitute it with? Avoid choco-
late and candy as that will generate another type of problem. Some people use a fake cigar-
ette, or some sort of prob that you can use to simulate the ac-
tion, and keep your hands busy. Try drinking water each time you feel like smoking. That usual-
ly helps as well and it's healthy. Walk around with your bot-
tle and just take a sip each time you feel the urge to smoke.
3. Reward: Are you looking for your nicotine shot, or is there something else involved? Some peo-
ple smoke out of boredom. others out of social integration. Whatever your reason, find a substi-
tute that will give you the same reward.

Oh, and do avoid things like alcohol and stress. They will weaken your resolve.
And do sports. A lot of it. you will very fast see positive results which will motivate you further.
But most of all, the person who's look-
ing to stop needs to REALLY want to stop. If that's not the case, all efforts will be just a wast of time.
Good luck!

And now, it’s your turn.