Habit reversal for habitual scratching in younger children with atopic eczema

The Combined Approach to atopic eczema, using behaviour modification to optimise conventional treatment, was first introduced by a Swedish dermatologist, Dr Peter Norén, in the 1980s. In the first part of this article, Christopher Bridgett suggests how this approach, which combines habit reversal with topical treatment, can be successfully used to treat younger children, either in a clinical setting or using a self-help format. In the second part, a patient's mother, Iman Ogoo, relates how the self-help format of the approach transformed the life of her two-year-old son.