Karen H. (Nail Biting and Picking)
Customer Service Representative
Austin, TX
I've had problems with nail biting for as long as I can remember. I've picked off and on throughout the years, but started picking more severely recently when I stopped biting my nails and suddenly had fingernails that I could use to pick at my skin. I used these behaviors as crutches for forty years. It was totally unconscious and I was doing it before I even realized that I was doing it.
I was constantly trying to hide it and was using makeup to cover up the problems with my skin. I felt less confident and more anxious about people noticing the effects of the behavior. I had a really stressful job and the problem had become bad enough that I was really damaging my skin to the point where I couldn't cover it up with makeup anymore. I felt like I couldn't control my behavior and didn't think that I could stop doing it. It was totally irrational. My husband would tell me to stop and as soon as he wasn't looking I would do it again. Sometimes I would even hide somewhere and do it and that made me feel more out of control. I didn't feel like I could change other parts of my life and this was one place where I did feel in control.
I heard about A New Day Hypnosis on yahoo local and decided to schedule an appointment. I noticed results almost immediately after my first session. I was conscious of the behavior and found myself more able to control myself. I feel less anxious overall and that's been really helpful. I also have healthier skin.
I found that having a battery of techniques and a system using hypnosis has been really helpful to me. I've started to exercise more control over other areas of my life and I'm working toward goals and coping with situations that are not under my immediate control. I notice that it's easier for me to manage my emotions with factors that I can't control in my life.
I feel more confident socially and I've been working on the social side of my life. I feel encouraged to be more social, happier, and more connected. I'm more comfortable around people and I've reconnected with people who had previously been scattered. That whole element has been very healthy and these things seem to feed into each other. I had become very isolated after I left my last job and I think that working on social connectedness was really important for my progress.
I would recommend A New Day Hypnosis because it has been very useful and helpful to me. I've done counseling before and found that sometimes the act of going to counseling caused me anxiety. It's been a very enjoyable experience. The whole process has put me at ease and the way that Laura presents it makes me want to come back. I'm confident that I've learned a lot of techniques and have a tool kit that can generate awareness in the future. I am re-learning behaviors and I am reminded to think positively. I'm better able to redirect thought patterns and have more control of my behaviors and that has been enormously useful to me.