Break the Cycle of Anxiety, Habits and Stress.

How to Break Bad Habits with Hypnotherapy

How to Break Bad Habits with Hypnotherapy

Why It’s So Hard to Break Bad Habits

You have probably told yourself, “I’ll just stop doing it.” Whether it’s biting your nails, scrolling late at night, or reaching for another cigarette, willpower often fades quickly.

This is not because you lack discipline. It is because habits don’t live in logic. They live in the brain’s automatic systems.

Psychologists describe the trigger–routine–reward loop, a cycle that explains how habits form and why they are so difficult to break.

  • Trigger: a cue such as stress, boredom, or time of day that activates the habit
  • Routine: the automatic behaviour itself
  • Reward: the payoff, such as relief, distraction, or comfort

Over time, this loop becomes reinforced. The brain starts to anticipate the reward whenever the trigger appears. In fact, neuroscience research shows that habits eventually shift from conscious control to the basal ganglia, the brain’s habit centre, which makes them automatic (Wood & Rünger, 2016, Annual Review of Psychology).

So, when you try to “just stop,” your brain resists because it has learned that this habit feels rewarding.

How Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviours Keep the Cycle Going

Underneath every habit lies a thought–feeling–behaviour cycle.

For example:

  • A thought such as “I can’t handle this meeting” triggers anxiety.
  • That feeling of anxiety leads to a behaviour like checking your phone or grabbing a snack.
  • The temporary relief you feel reinforces the habit.

The brain learns, “This works,” and repeats it the next time.

This process is explained well by Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), which helps people challenge unhelpful thoughts and replace avoidance with healthier coping strategies (Beck Institute, 2022). However, many of these patterns operate below conscious awareness, which is why insight alone often isn’t enough.

How Hypnotherapy Helps Rewire Habit Loops

This is where hypnotherapy can make a powerful difference. It works with the subconscious mind, where automatic behaviours are stored and maintained.

In a relaxed, focused state, your mind becomes more open to new learning. During hypnotherapy, you can:

  • Practice new, healthier responses to old triggers
  • Rewire how your mind interprets cues, such as changing “stress = snack” to “stress = deep breath”
  • Visualise success until your brain starts to believe it

Research shows that hypnosis can produce meaningful improvements in behaviour change, emotional regulation, and stress management (Jensen et al., 2023, Frontiers in Psychology). It allows your brain to practice a new way of responding.

How Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy (CBH) Strengthens the Process

Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy (CBH) combines the structure of CBT with the deeper work of hypnotherapy. It is a practical, evidence-based approach that helps you change both how you think and how you respond.

  • Cognitive: You identify and challenge the thoughts that keep your habit alive.
  • Behavioural: You practise new coping strategies and behaviours in real situations.
  • Hypnotic: You reinforce these new patterns in a relaxed state so they take root more effectively.

This combination has been shown to be more effective than CBT alone. A classic study found that adding hypnosis to CBT significantly enhanced treatment outcomes (Kirsch et al., 1995, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology).

As therapist and author Donald Robertson explains in The Practice of Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy (2013), hypnosis helps strengthen and consolidate the cognitive and behavioural changes that CBT introduces.

In short, CBH helps you not only understand your habits but also retrain your brain at a deeper level.

A Real-World Example: Overcoming Procrastination

Take procrastination, for instance. It is often driven by fear or discomfort. CBH can help by:

  1. Identifying the trigger, such as fear of failure.
  2. Change that fear response during hypnosis.
  3. Practising small, achievable steps in a relaxed state.
  4. Reinforcing feelings of progress and satisfaction instead of relief from avoidance.

Over time, your mind begins to associate action with calmness and confidence rather than stress or fear. Clients often report that they no longer need to “push” themselves because focus and motivation start to feel natural.

The Key Takeaway

You can’t “just stop” a habit because your brain is following a pattern it has learned over time. However, you can retrain it.

CBH helps you interrupt old patterns, create new ones, and build responses that serve you instead of sabotaging you.

If you are ready to break the cycle and rewire your habits from the inside out, Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy can help you be in control.

References

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