By Renee Yan
Most people have a bad habit they’d like to quit. Whether it’s nail biting, skin picking, doom-scrolling, or smoking, behaviors like these can be hard to shake. Many find that it’s easier to give in to behaviors that the brain has already wired for efficiency.
According to experts at UT Southwestern Medical Center, that tendency has a biological basis. In other words, breaking a habit isn’t just an issue of willpower.
Within the central nervous system, neural circuits propagate electrochemical signals to process information and modulate behavior, explained Collin Vas, M.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical Center. When an act is repeated, the myelin sheath – the insulating layer wrapped around the neurons – allows signals to travel faster and more efficiently along established pathways. Over time, these behaviors rely less on conscious decision-making and become reflexive.
“Specific brain regions – particularly the dorsolateral striatum – take over as behaviors become more automatic with practice,” Dr. Vas said.
And understanding how these behaviors form in the brain is key to changing them. Because while we cannot completely erase these circuits, we can forge stronger alternatives, said Courtney Sanders, Ph.D., Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry.
As a clinical psychologist, Dr. Sanders helps patients retrain their brain and let go of disruptive behaviors.
“How successful you are in breaking bad habits depends on multiple factors, such as emotions, cognition, and physical health,” she said. “One pitfall to avoid is falling into an all-or-nothing mentality. Most of the time, there are going to be some lapses, especially at the beginning of this process. That’s normal, and it does not undo the progress you’ve made up to that point.”
Tools to help break the pattern
Drs. Vas and Sanders shared seven practical strategies they use to help patients break a bad habit:
1. The 10-minute rule
The more you deny yourself something, the more you tend to crave it, right?
So, try practicing delayed gratification. For example, if you’re trying to quit smoking, wait 10 minutes before giving in. Another way to think of it is “urge surfing,” Dr. Vas said. Urges are like waves, peaking before eventually subsiding. The trick is to ride out the urge.
“Telling yourself ‘later’ instead of ‘no’ is much easier for the brain to handle,” Dr. Vas said. “Set a timer for 10 minutes and then find an attention-absorbing task to engage in, such as puzzles or crosswords. When the timer is up, maybe you’ll just let the urge pass.”
2. Sensory pattern interruptions
Sometimes it takes a physical sensation to interrupt the neural circuits of your brain. Pressing an ice pack to your cheek or splashing cold water on your face may jolt you out of a craving.
“A sensory pattern interruption acts like an emergency brake,” Dr. Vas said. “By introducing an intense physical sensation, you force the brain to instantly redirect its resources to process a simulated emergency, shattering the psychological loop.”
3. Changes to your environment
Where you are plays a role in how you behave. We take cues from the people and events around us, and if they’re stressful enough, they are likely to influence our actions.
“Limiting your exposure to the things that reinforce those bad habits can be very helpful,” Dr. Sanders said. “For example, if you have a habit of mindless snacking in the afternoon when you are home alone, try relocating to a library or moving to another neutral space.”
4. Habit reversal training
Sometimes letting go of one habit involves finding a new one.
“If you are trying to stop biting your nails, one way is to find a competing reaction that makes nail biting a challenge – sitting on your hands or clenching them into fists,” Dr. Sanders explained.
5. The 5-4-3-2-1 method
Because many of your habits are automatic, the goal is to keep your body off autopilot. Mindfulness exercises may help.
Dr. Vas explains the 5-4-3-2-1 method: “Look around and name five things that you see, four things that you can touch, three things that you hear, two things that you smell, and one thing that you taste.”
6. If/Then planning
Some people are better prepared to confront their bad habits when they have a plan in place. Think of alternative options to redirect your attention.
“Instead of relying on willpower in the heat of the moment, decide the detour you want to take in advance,” Dr. Vas said. "If I start craving a cigarette, for example, I will get up and take a lap around the house."
7. Journaling
Mindfulness is often the first step in changing behaviors. During intake sessions, Dr. Sanders said she typically starts with gentle probing questions: What time of day are you most likely to fall back on bad habits? What is running through your mind? Where are you? What emotions are you experiencing?
“Increasing your self-awareness and writing down your thoughts and feelings can be helpful, and if you bring that to your clinician, that gives us so much more information to work with,” Dr. Sanders said. “It's key to understanding everything that goes into the behavior because no behavior exists in a vacuum.”
How therapy and medication can help
There are times when therapy alone isn’t enough. Some patients may benefit from medication. When combined with counseling, this can be an effective treatment option. This is especially true if there’s an underlying diagnosis such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), body dysmorphic disorder, or anxiety.
“If you’re in a low mood, distracted, or stressed, you’re not able to engage in the therapy meaningfully,” Dr. Sanders explained. “That’s when a consult with a psychiatrist would be most impactful. Sometimes it’s not just a behavioral issue, but a medical one.”
Retraining your brain may seem daunting, but with some guidance from expert clinicians, most patients begin noticing progress within weeks, Dr. Vas added. In the meantime, it’s important to give yourself some grace and compassion.
“We’ve all got habits – good and bad,” he said. “These are things we can work on, and for the most part, it’s possible to gain control over them.”
To talk with an expert, make an appointment by calling 214-645-8500 or request an appointment online.
