A bracelet that can help you stop picking?

***Note: (2/21/18) Instead of this post, you may prefer to visit my more recent blog post and video on the awareness bracelet. ***

The wearable technology revolution has come to our aid! A new company called HabitAware has developed a smart bracelet, called Liv, that can actually help you stop skin picking, hair pulling, nail biting or similar unconscious behaviors.

Train the device to recognize the motion of your personal behavior, and it will discreetly vibrate when you do it. For example, when you lift your hand to your face. This creates a moment of awareness right before you do the behavior - a reminder essentially that what you really, and consciously, want is to put your hand back down. In this way you train yourself to continually avoid engaging in your body-focused repetitive behavior at the crucial moment before you get sucked into it. It's much easier to NOT damage your skin, nails or hair when you train yourself to not even touch it.

In the video below, I speak with Aneela Kumar, cofounder of HabitAware. We discuss the story of her trichotillomania and how she and her husband developed Liv in order to help her stop the hair pulling behavior. She answers questions about how it works and how long it takes. Liv is not ready to ship to the public yet, but you can preorder at www.habitaware.com and use the promotional code "FREEDOM" to get 5% off the already low pre-order prices when you order before July 31st.

One of the biggest challenges of these behaviors is their habitual unconscious nature, and I believe that this Liv bracelet will be a game changer for many, a tremendous self-help tool or an accompaniment to treatment.I hope you enjoy the video as much as I enjoyed speaking to Aneela: