Sometimes changing a habitual behaviour that we are not happy with can be difficult especially if there is a secondary gain.
Secondary gain is where an apparent negative or problematic behaviour provides a positive or beneficial result in some way.
For example, smoking is not healthy but may help the person to relax or interact socially.
Perhaps a person has repeatedly found it difficult to lose weight. They have the conscious desire for weight loss, but unconsciously they are attached to the safety of less sexual attention from others when overweight. The secondary gain here may be protection from sexual abuse.
If we are finding it hard to change a habit or behaviour, we can check consciously for secondary gain by asking ourselves the question: “What does this habitual behaviour give me and what positive intention does this behaviour fulfil?”
If we don’t receive an answer, hypnotherapy can help access the subconscious mind to explore if the answer lays there.
Becoming aware of the positive intention a habit holds for us brings self-empowerment.
We then have the opportunity to find more beneficial ways to give ourselves the experience of the positive intention. As an example instead of smoking to relax, a person can take up yoga classes to assist with stress reduction.
In the case of blocking weight loss due to harmful sexual attention in the past, a person may choose to undergo counselling to address the underlying trauma.
Hypnotherapy is an effective way to retrain the sub conscious mind in the new behaviour making it easier to act on.
