Mental Exercise

[Ken]

Last Friday I posted a message to the board explaining a mental exercise procedure that has cured many individuals from their unwanted, annoying, and sometimes destructive compulsions. I see there has been over 40 viewings of this site. And I want to make this statement to those who have viewed it. It seems easy: to voice a mantra while you are trying to read. But it is not easy. Resistance to the exercise introduces itself from the beginning, and those who start usually, unless they are encouraged, give up after only one or two days. And so I would like to know whether or not those who have read the message are willing to try. Please so indicate in response. I will provide as much encouragement as I can on the site. But it would be better if you would contact me at my address, [e-mail], so that I can give you personal encouragement. I want all of you to be rid of these compulsions. It is possible.

[Cristina]

Dear Ken,
I tried your reading exercises three years ago, for 20 days or so. At first I noticed an improvement in my picking habits, but I didn't stop. Then I gave reading exercises up, when I found myself picking during them (boredom is one od my triggers!). I've had better results with Habit Reversal: applying Habit Reversal ntools I completely gave skin picking up for long periods (even 6 months).Relapses do always occur, but, step by step, I'm learning to manage them and I've seen costant improvement: There are so many elements involved in skin picking (emotional and situational) that we can't magically stop! But we can learn how the habit perpetuates itself and then try to stop the cycle.
Cristina

[Ken]

For those whose progress I was able to monitor here are the results:

Of those who participated fully, fourteen were cured of their compulsion although they had to continue the exercise from time to time to keep the compulsion in remission, four were partially successful , and four were failures. For those who were failures at the time, I have revised the exercise and the two who tried it eliminated their compulsion in less than a week.

The revised exercise provides more of a challenge. The participant counts backward while doing the reading. This activity furthur blocks the normal pathway to cognizance, thereby forcing the establishement of new or broadened pathways.

But the simple one sentence mantra worked for most participants. It's simple and results are usually felt in one week.

If the single sentence mantra does not work within four or five days, I would recommend for those who try to use the countdown method.

[Ken]

This is my reply to Cristina.
I wish you had contacted me at the time of your trial. We could have modified the exercise to better fit your condition. Twenty days without results would be boring. You said you had an initial decrease in the compulsion. This could have been built upon by changing the mantra to make the process more challenging.

I encourage any others who are trying the system to contact me with questions they may have. I do want to know what their experience is and how they feel after each reading session. If you are reluctant to do so, then please post your trials to this site. It will benefit everybody. [e-mail]

[Cristina]

Which is the address of your website?
C.

[Ken]

I discontinued my web site a couple months ago. It was in need of revision and I did not want to continue paying for it. I will probably set up a new one soon with new data. Why don't you contact me directly and we can talk. All my conversations with my participants are confidential.