Habit Reversal

Description of the Strategy

Azrin and Nunn developed habit reversal in 1973. The intervention includes four phases, including awareness, competing response, motivation, and generalization. The goal of the awareness phase is to increase the client's awareness of the target behavior, either a tic or habit. First, the client is instructed to describe the target behavior in detail. This is often done with the client looking in a mirror and reenacting the tic or habit. The client is then instructed to spontaneously acknowledge the target behavior when it occurs during the session. The therapist assists in identifying tics or habits that the client fails to acknowledge and teaches the client to become aware of the early signs or sensory preconditions of the target behavior. ...