Managing Behavior

In this episode, R. Trent Codd, III, Ed.S., LPC, LCAS interviews Michael P. Twohig, PhD about Pornography addiction. Topics discussed include:  * Definitional matters pertaining to the definition of pornography addiction  * The first controlled outcome study for the treatment of this problem  * An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) approach to treating pornography addiction.

No matter the addiction -- drugs, gambling, shopping, smoking, alcohol or more -- people who want to kick their habit in the new year might find help in a new Harvard University publication. "Overcoming Addiction: Paths toward recovery" offers guidance for breaking unwanted addictive habits. The advice applies universally, because what all addictions have in common, the Harvard experts say, is the way the brain responds to pleasurable experiences.

You know you shouldn't, but you just can't help it. Whether it's nail-biting, thumb-sucking or overeating, nervous habits plague many individuals, who just can't seem to stop. But why do we engage in these behaviors, and can they have detrimental effects? Here's a look at some of the most common compulsions, as well as ways to make 2010 the year you really quit biting your nails — or quit whatever bad habit you're saddled with.

You might think you eat when you're hungry and finish when you're full, but scientists know better. They know that food labels, plate size, lighting and music, what's on our plate, what the person next to us is doing and our subconscious eating routines, are more likely to influence our eating behaviours than hunger. And these external signals and cues, when added to our not-so-good subconscious habits, encourage us to overeat and slowly add inches to our waistlines. If we understand why we overeat, how to beat these external influences and create new habits, we can take control of our eating behaviours, our weight and our health.

Have you ever sat down to work on a crossword puzzle only to find that afterwards you haven’t the energy to exercise? Or have you come home from a rough day at the office with no energy to go for a run? A new study, published today in Psychology and Health, reveals that if you use your willpower to do one task, it depletes you of the willpower to do an entirely different task.

Research reveals a curved relationship between practice and automaticity. Say you want to create a new habit, whether it's taking more exercise, eating more healthily or writing a blog post every day, how often does it need to be performed before it no longer requires Herculean self-control?

Drinking alcohol reduces our inhibitions and we may behave differently. Many drunk people make decisions or behave in ways which they later regret. Acting silly may soon be forgotten, but the consequences of breaking the law, fghting and arguing, unprotected or regretted sex may be more serious.

Research shows that personal behavior has its own tipping points: In many cases, the more times you try to change a habit, the more likely you are to ultimately succeed. ... You may notice that bad habits like indulging in a candy fix relieve tension and give the illusion of a lift but don't provide any deep fulfillment. Once you see that, it's easier to change.

Why do our body and/or mind seem to work against us when we are trying to do something good for ourselves? Because the dynamics of a habit are multidimensional, and when we want to change we tend to approach it from just one dimension.

One thing is true about New Year's health resolutions: They fail. Over several decades, doctors have tried to frighten people into healthy behavior by showing them pictures of lung tumors, accident victims with ghastly injuries and skeletal AIDS patients. Nothing really works -- not for long, at least -- because the central impediment is not that people do not know what they ought to do, but that their minds refuse to commit to change.