1. Why are habits so hard to break?
2. What exactly is the SPC HABIT BUSTER™ program?
3. Why would The HABIT BUSTER™ program work for me?
Question – Why are habits so hard to break?
Answer – There are two main reasons most habits are hard to break. First, many habits seem to fill a basic need most people have today - the need to relieve stress and/or the need for pleasure or happiness. Since the vast majority of people are either stressed or depressed a good part of the time, one can see how easy it is to fall prey to certain habits especially habits of excess. This also explains why people who stop one bad habit (e.g. smoking) without doing something about the need factor often find another (e.g. overeating) taking its place.
The second major reason habits are hard to break is that even if you can do something about the needs that a habit fulfills, once a habit is deeply ingrained, it becomes automatic, involuntary or sub-conscious i.e. the old habit automatically kicks in before you have a chance to replace it with a new positive one.
Thus, if you wish to break a bad habit, you need to (1) take care of the need factor and (2) re-program yourself so that the new positive habit automatically kicks in before the old one does. This handbook presents a program that has effectively dealt with both of these factors.
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Question – What exactly is the SPC HABIT BUSTER TM program?
Answer – The Habit Buster™ program
presented in the handbook is an outgrowth of a highly effective
proven method for giving people greater control over all aspects
of their lives. The method, referred to as Self-Programmed
Control2 (SPC )3, was developed by clinical psychologist
Alfred A. Barrios, Ph.D., as a result of years of research
in the areas of higher order (Pavlovian) conditioning, cognitive
restructuring, guided imagery and biofeedback. There are basically
three parts to the Habit Buster™ program:
Part one presents some simple but powerful SPC techniques for increasing your mental focus and willpower. This gives you a strong feeling of hope and confidence that you can indeed accomplish your goals.
Part two involves a unique biofeedback device called the
Habit Buster Biofeedback Card. This device allows you to eliminate the urge or need for the habit right at the moment of need. Whenever you feel the urge, instead of reaching for your habit you will reach for the card and perform the
SPC techniques on the back until the urge has disappeared.
Part three involves a procedure known as focused visualization or Self-Programming. In the more highly focused and relaxed state of mind produced by the
SPC techniques, you will be able to self-program in the new habit so that it will automatically kick in before the old one has a chance to rear its ugly head.
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Question – Why would THE HABIT BUSTER work for me?
Answer – This habit breaking program has been tested and researched in at least four different colleges and universities. The results achieved at East Los Angeles College, UCLA, Santa Monica College and Southwest College will give you some idea of how effective this program can be for habits of excess. An anonymous questionnaire given to a total of 313 students at the completion of the SPC class asked the students to (a) list those areas they had been excessive in prior to the class and (b) indicate which of these areas they had overcome as a result of the class. The following are the tabulated results of the percentages of students overcoming their excesses:
| Food 78% (100 of 129) |
Cigarettes 73% (52 of 71) |
| Alcohol 92% (59 of 64) |
Television 86% (120 of 140) |
| Marijuana 72% (31 of 43) |
Other Drugs 83% (16 of 19) |
Such startling results show that habits can be easily broken using these remarkable new techniques, all based on the power of your own mind. What some people call willpower, or self control, can be learned. You now have in your hands the tools that can break all of your bad habits, all you need is the commitment to use them.
1 If you plan to use the Habit Buster" program for a habit of physical addiction to drugs or alcohol, it is strongly recommended that your withdrawal phase be monitored by your physician.
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