you can't use negative reinforcement to stop obsessive or compulsive behaviours generally... as many here already know, there are already plenty of negative factors involved...

for example, hair pulling results in immediate pain but it does nothing to stop the pulling

there is a distinction between *choosing* to do something and doing it compulsively... while you can treat compulsions through cognitive means, this is not the mechanism that caused the problem. Meaning... something neurological happens that creates misfiring of neurons, or failure to fire... it isn't like they decided that hair pulling would help stress. Most know it won't help and can't stop anyway.

the way to stop it is through methods of specialized desensitization to the triggers that provoke the behaviours...

i know personally i have endured negative and even painful results to complete a compulsion. The hard wiring of the brain does not respond to the negative input in the same way it might otherwise... if it did then we could just stop because we already know it doesn't make logical sense.

i like the putty idea but if one is in ERP therapy you have to avoid using what are called corrective behaviours... which essentially means you have to not substitute one behaviour for another. i don't know if erp is used in trich or not..