Get rid of your nail biting habit
December 28, 2007
Nail biting is the habit of biting one’s fingernails or toenails during periods of nervousness, stress, hunger or boredom. It is a common problem that is largely dismissed as a minor nuisance; nail biting can be anything from a bad habit to an outward symptom of a medical or emotional disorder. It can be obsessive compulsive or can even be a completely unconscious act where the affected person is not or barely aware of the behaviour while performing it. Some people bite their nails in their sleep, sometimes exclusively. This has been linked to stress while dreaming or stress from the dream, or simply stress in general. It considered to be the most widespread form of mild self mutilation. According to Freudian theory, nail biting is a symptom of oral fixation. The clinical name for nail biting is chronic onychophagia.
While nail biting and picking seems to be such a common problem, the psychological and medical research does not agree on an exact motivation for the action. However it suggests that nail biting can be the result of stress, various medical disorders, learned behaviours or just plain habit. The most common instigator of the disorder seems to be stress or anxiety. Nail and cuticle-skin biting may be an outlet for pent-up emotion, reducing tension for the individual. It is a common reaction to stress and boredom.
Nail biters could also suffer from a poor self-image or could be punishing themselves for deeper-rooted problems or anxieties. Basically, nail biting is a rational substitution of one problem for another. In many instances nail biting is used as a tension reliever. Any kind of disharmony as a result of friends, family, work, or school can trigger the habit.
99% of nail biters have minor problems or a fixed biting habit. Fewer have a deep emotional problem of which nail biting is a symptom.
Nail Biters are more often male than female after age 10 (10% fewer girls bite their nails than boys), and individuals with a higher rate of intelligence tend to bite their nails more than those of less intelligence. (This is because people with a higher rate of intelligence have more responsibility, which may provide more anxiety.) It is estimated that 28% to 33% of children ages 7-10 years old, 44% of adolescents, 19% to 29% of young adults and 5% of older adults are nail biters. Children may pick up a nail biting habit from a babysitter or family member as a learned behaviour. Some nail biters start out by trying to bite off a hangnail, fray or tear in a nail. They try to fix it with their teeth to make it smooth. The next thing they know a chunk of skin or nail has been chewed off.
Whatever the causes damage to the cuticles, roughness on the free edge, bleeding at the grooves or cuticles and nail deformities. The hand-to-mouth, oral action
of biting and picking leaves some individuals open to medical problems. Nail biters are more susceptible to yeast infections of the nail due to prolonged and increased wetting of the area during the repeated biting. Damage to the nail matrix from biting causes more extreme problems such as infection, ridging, or even permanent nail loss. Nail Biting can spread bacterial infections and can be responsible for severe dental problems.
Nail biting may result in the transportation of bacteria that are buried under the surface of the nail that are hard to clean and easy to get in the mouth. Likewise, broken skin on the cuticle may be susceptible to microbial and viral infections. These pathogens can be spread between digits via saliva. Extreme nail biting can be considered to be a form of self-mutilation. Bitten fingertips can become very sensitive to pain, usually at the place the skin meets the edge of the nail.
Treatment depends on the individual, but regular grooming and care is a big part of successfully kicking nail biting or picking. Those with a habit may be harder to cure than those who bite their nails in relationship to a psychiatric problem. Nail biting that manifests itself due to emotional trauma can possibly be cured with medicine and or counselling.
Various forms of aversion therapy exists to help people stop biting their nails. These include methods such as coating the nails with a bad-tasting substance (sometimes in the form of a special nail polish or gel deodorant) or wearing a rubber band on their wrist and having friends and family members snap it (or tell the nail biter to snap it) when they see nail biting. Replacing the habit of biting nails by the habit of chewing gum works for some people.
Some nail-biters, however, find the effectiveness of all of these remedies to be poor. For them, it may take sheer determination to break the habit. Tactics they may find helpful include making a mental note to stop, promising oneself not to bite or other such commitment to stop. Like other nervous habits, nail biting is sometimes a symptom of an emotional problem. In these cases, resolving the underlying problem can help to lessen or eliminate the nail-biting habit.
— Compiled by Shaista Saeed
While nail biting and picking seems to be such a common problem, the psychological and medical research does not agree on an exact motivation for the action. However it suggests that nail biting can be the result of stress, various medical disorders, learned behaviours or just plain habit. The most common instigator of the disorder seems to be stress or anxiety. Nail and cuticle-skin biting may be an outlet for pent-up emotion, reducing tension for the individual. It is a common reaction to stress and boredom.
Nail biters could also suffer from a poor self-image or could be punishing themselves for deeper-rooted problems or anxieties. Basically, nail biting is a rational substitution of one problem for another. In many instances nail biting is used as a tension reliever. Any kind of disharmony as a result of friends, family, work, or school can trigger the habit.
99% of nail biters have minor problems or a fixed biting habit. Fewer have a deep emotional problem of which nail biting is a symptom.
Nail Biters are more often male than female after age 10 (10% fewer girls bite their nails than boys), and individuals with a higher rate of intelligence tend to bite their nails more than those of less intelligence. (This is because people with a higher rate of intelligence have more responsibility, which may provide more anxiety.) It is estimated that 28% to 33% of children ages 7-10 years old, 44% of adolescents, 19% to 29% of young adults and 5% of older adults are nail biters. Children may pick up a nail biting habit from a babysitter or family member as a learned behaviour. Some nail biters start out by trying to bite off a hangnail, fray or tear in a nail. They try to fix it with their teeth to make it smooth. The next thing they know a chunk of skin or nail has been chewed off.
Whatever the causes damage to the cuticles, roughness on the free edge, bleeding at the grooves or cuticles and nail deformities. The hand-to-mouth, oral action
of biting and picking leaves some individuals open to medical problems. Nail biters are more susceptible to yeast infections of the nail due to prolonged and increased wetting of the area during the repeated biting. Damage to the nail matrix from biting causes more extreme problems such as infection, ridging, or even permanent nail loss. Nail Biting can spread bacterial infections and can be responsible for severe dental problems.
Nail biting may result in the transportation of bacteria that are buried under the surface of the nail that are hard to clean and easy to get in the mouth. Likewise, broken skin on the cuticle may be susceptible to microbial and viral infections. These pathogens can be spread between digits via saliva. Extreme nail biting can be considered to be a form of self-mutilation. Bitten fingertips can become very sensitive to pain, usually at the place the skin meets the edge of the nail.
Treatment depends on the individual, but regular grooming and care is a big part of successfully kicking nail biting or picking. Those with a habit may be harder to cure than those who bite their nails in relationship to a psychiatric problem. Nail biting that manifests itself due to emotional trauma can possibly be cured with medicine and or counselling.
Various forms of aversion therapy exists to help people stop biting their nails. These include methods such as coating the nails with a bad-tasting substance (sometimes in the form of a special nail polish or gel deodorant) or wearing a rubber band on their wrist and having friends and family members snap it (or tell the nail biter to snap it) when they see nail biting. Replacing the habit of biting nails by the habit of chewing gum works for some people.
Some nail-biters, however, find the effectiveness of all of these remedies to be poor. For them, it may take sheer determination to break the habit. Tactics they may find helpful include making a mental note to stop, promising oneself not to bite or other such commitment to stop. Like other nervous habits, nail biting is sometimes a symptom of an emotional problem. In these cases, resolving the underlying problem can help to lessen or eliminate the nail-biting habit.
— Compiled by Shaista Saeed
