Adult Thumbsucking – IOTW Report

Adult Thumbsucking

Is it really thumbs they are thinking about?

OddityCentral-

“I think that thumb sucking fills a void, yeah, definitely completes the circuit” says 65-year-old Harvey Miller, an adult thumb-sucker from East Meadow, New York. He’s been doing it all his life, while watching TV, reading, driving, and before going to sleep. To him, it’s a comfort zone, and he doesn’t want to stop. What he would like is for people to be able to accept thumb sucking as the free, legal, drug-free, quiet habit that it is, instead of seeing it as a joke or just plain weird.

“I would like to be able to suck my thumb in public, I just, I’m not there,” Harvey says. “I don’t think I could stand the misinterpretations and the attention it would get.”

Harvey is definitely not alone. “Adult thumb sucking is actually quite common. Around 1 in 10 adults do it, more women than men. In fact, double the number of women compared to men and even some celebrities like Rihanna have been spotted doing it,” says counselling psychologist Chris Hart.

!snip!

They’re called “progressives.”

ht/ not my real name

32 Comments on Adult Thumbsucking

  1. Yes. That’s what world needs more of. Bed wetting thumb sucking adults.

    Jumpin Jesus on a pogo stick! Some days I question my own sanity and then I come over here to the carnival freak show. I don’t know whether to thank you or curse you.

  2. I sucked my thumb as a child. My parents tried everything to get me to stop. My older brothers “branded” my thumb with their wood burning iron that they got for Christmas one year. Thank God I had a spare! What finally got me to stop was having my beloved first grade teacher point at me and tell all the other kids to look, too. Shame. It does a body good. So glad to have been brought back into the societal fold.

  3. One of the funniest things – both my kids were born with mini-callouses or blisters on their thumbs.
    They apparently sucked their thumbs pretty hard while inside Momma.

  4. The lack of anything female in his home, the beret, the child molester van, and the thumb sucking, “definitely fills the uhhh, completes the circuit.”

  5. Ah, guys, don’t be so hard on thumb suckers. I sucked my thumb until I was twelve. It was comforting and delicious and helped cover up for what I didn’t have in family life.

  6. on the scale of ‘beheading with a rusty kitchen knife’ to flicking your nose-goblins … thumbsucking is way down on the scale
    not that I condone that behavior … but there are worse things to worry about

    … &, yes Irony, adult diaper wearing (not the Depends kind) is definitely much higher on the 😉

  7. Oolook,
    I think the objection is to the incessant obsession to normalize everything.
    Thumbsucking, normalized, is but another patch in the quilt of tolerance for everything, which will include things much more deviant than sucking one’s thumb, I assure you.

  8. Yes, there are many things that are much more important but, if you really need a security blanket, forget the thumb and get a weapon….and learn how to use it. It will do wonders for you insecurity.

  9. Why don’t they glorify smoking? Bad habits, unprotected sex, state sponsored drug benders and weirdness are top priority to the lefties. So they need to stop nagging people about smoking. It’s their life choice. They were born to smoke. They were born this way!11!

  10. I always thought adult thumb sucking was a disorder, but it’s a habit sometimes triggered by response from a disorder.
    I live with trichotillomania in mild form, a true mental disorder (no, I’m not gay), but think thumb suckers are worse off.

  11. ECP- Is it from stress or just a habit when you’re watching TV or sitting around? Just curious. I don’t have trichotillomania, but I went to get my eyebrows done years ago at a salon and told the lady that mine were thinning, along with my hair and eyelashes.( Lantus Insulin allergy). She asked me if I pulled my eyebrows and eyelashes out of habit. I’m like-No! I’m TRYING to hang on to them! 😉

  12. MJA – When I was 8, I grabbed my dads razor and shaved my eyebrows clear off after pulling half of them out. I lived with the shame for 2 years and started pulling eyelashes around 10. I pull chin/jaw hair and any facial hair that’s long enough to this day and sometimes eyelashes and pubes (gasp!). Oddly very little interest in eyebrows. Sometimes boredom, anxiety, stress, yea all of the above trigger it.. Critical thinking (what’s my next move?) is the main trigger. With company I shave beforehand and refrain, but I’m becoming more open about it and really don’t care if people think negatively. It’s who I am. For now, I’m glad half my head isn’t pulled.

  13. MJA- I wouldn’t have shared it just a couple years ago. Age *eyeroll* and the brave, brilliant, and some beautiful people have shared their stories on YouTube.. makes me feel so not alone.

  14. The plethora of ignorant stereotypes in the comments section would make anyone want to suck their thumb. Heck, it’s just a harmless habit, deal with it if you have to, otherwise go hide under your rock.

    1

Comments are closed.