PSYC 3451 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Habit Reversal Training, Tic Disorder, Stuttering
26 Mar 2019
School
Department
Course
Professor
PSYC3451
3/12/19
CHAPTER 21: HABIT REVERSAL PROCEDURES
1. Habit reversal procedures→ used to decrease frequency of undesirable habit behaviors
and implemented by the person with the habit behavior
a. Habits are behaviors that do not interfere to any great extent w person’s social
functioning, but become annoyance to person exhibiting themselves and/or
significant others in their life
b. Habit disorder→ when habit occurs frequently or with high intensity, causing
person to seek out treatment
2. 3 types of habit behaviors→ nervous habits (nail-biting, hair-pulling), motor tics (head-
jerking, facial grimacing), stuttering (word repetitions, prolongations
a. Nervous habits→ involve repetitive, manipulative behaviors that are believed to
be most likely to occur when the person experiences heightened nervous tension
i. Body-focused repetitive behavior problems→ nervous habits that result
in physical damage or negative social evaluations; i.e., nail-biting, skin-
biting, skin-scratching
ii. Do not typically serve an function to the person→ aka they are not
reinforced by others in the person’s life, but rather diminish nervous
tension
iii. May serve self-stimulatory function
iv. Can occur while other voluntary functional activities are occurring
v. Most commonly, they involve use of hands
vi. Do not cause problem unless frequency or intensity becomes too
extreme
b. Motor and vocal tics→ motor tics are repetitive, jerking movements of
particular muscle group in the body, usually involve facial or neck muscles and
are associated w heightened muscle tension; vocal tics are repetitive sounds that
serve no social function
i. Tourette’s disorder→ tic disorder involving multiple motor and vocal tics
caused by interaction of genetic and neurobiological factors, as well as
environmental events
c. Stuttering→ type of speech dysfluency where person repeats words, syllables,
prolongs syllable sound, blocks on a word (makes no sound for a while when
trying to say it)
3. Habit reversal procedures→ implemented in a therapy session with the client who
exhibits habit disorder; client then implements that are taught in the session to control
habit as it occurs outside the session
a. Steps of habit reversal:
i. First taught to describe behaviors involved in habit→ behavioral
definition
ii. Then they engage in awareness training→ client learns to identify when
habit occurs or when it is about to occur
iii. Next, they learn a competing response→ behavior that is compatible
with the habit behavior; practice this competing response after each
occurrence of behavior during the session
iv. Finally, client engages in competing response training→ client instructed
on how to use competing response outside the session whenever it
occurs or is about to occur
v. Social support→ significant others are instructed to prompt the client to
use the competing response when habit occurs outside the session, and
then praise client for not engaging in habit and for correctly using the
competing response
vi. At end of session, therapist reviews motivation strategy w client→
informs them of all situations in which the habit occurs and how habit
may have caused inconvenience or embarrassment; increases likelihood
that client will use competing response outside session to control habit
b. In habit reversal therapy, client learns 2 skills:
