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Show Ideas for Better Living . . . Do Something About Bad Habits by Dr. M. Ford McBride All of us have bad habits and there is something we can do about them! Psychologist, Dennis Coon talks about four key steps in breaking bad habits. You might want to write them down. One, find out what is rein forcing the bad habit and remove or avoid the reinforcement. reinfor-cement. If you can't control eating between meals, stay out of the kitchen or away from food except during regular meals. To avoid buying food from vending machines don't carry loose change with you. Two. Try to get the same reinforcement with new habits. For example, a young mother realized she was yelling at her children more often than she would like. This habit seemed to be reinforced rein-forced by periods of relative quiet that followed when she raised her voice. To avoid this habit she should ignore her children when they are noisy and make a special effort to praise them, show approval and pay attention to them when they are playing quietly and constructively. Three, do something different dif-ferent in the presence of stimuli that usually precedes the bad habit. A child has developed the habit oi throwing her coat on the floor after coming in the front door. After being scholded she would hang it up. The mother should recognize that scolding has become the cue for hanging the coat up. The girl should not just be scolded but should put her coat on again, go outside, come in the door, and hang her coat up. Soon, coming in the door will become the cue for hanging the coat up. Four Avoid cues that elicit the bad habit. A housewife has begun to notice how much impulse buying she does at the grocery store. As a first step in avoiding this habit she has begun to shop after she has eaten because she has observed obser-ved that hunger is a cause for impulse buying. She should also make a shopping list and stick to it so that she only looks at items she intends to buy. If you have really troublesome habits like excessive ex-cessive use of alcohol or smoking you may find it more helpful to consult a professional counselor. Dr. McBride can be seen every Wednesday on Channel Chan-nel 11 "Newsroom" at 6:00 p.m. If you have a question or ' topic you would like Dr. McBride Mc-Bride to discuss in his column, write: Dr. M. Ford ; McBride, 1161 East 300 North. Nor-th. Provo, Utah 84601. |