Habit Reversal Therapy

Habit reversal training (HRT) is a “multicomponent behavioral treatment package originally developed to address a wide variety of repetitive behavior disorders”.
Behavioral disorders treated with HRT include tics, trichotillomania, nail biting, thumb sucking, skin picking, temporomandibular disorder (TMJ), and stuttering.
It consists of five components: awareness training, competing response training, contingency management, relaxation training, and generalization training.
Research on the efficacy of HRT for behavioral disorders have produced consistent, large effect. It has met the standard of a well-established treatment for stuttering, thumb sucking, nail biting, and TMJ disorders. According to research a self-help variant of HRT is useful in skin patients for the habit of pricking and scratching skin or pulling the hair behaviour.