So why is it so hard to stop biting your nails? Researchers insist that onychophagia, the medical name for nail biting, is a very prevalent problem wrongfully camouflaged as a bad habit.
Dr. Kieron O’Connor, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Montreal, told me that onychophagia is not an anxiety disorder. Instead, it’s one of many body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRB) that include nail biting, hair pulling, and skin picking. O’Connor also told me that while nail biting is more common in stressful situations, there’s not much evidence that people who do it are more neurotic in general.
They do, however, often have traits in common.
“Ironically, nail biters may be more perfectionist and more prone to be dissatisfied with themselves and their performance,” O’Connor said. “This may trigger biting.”
According to a paper O’Connor wrote, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology in 2015, certain situations at high risk of onset of BRFBs involve activities and contexts in which the person feels judged, constrained, frustrated, or dissatisfied. I can catch myself picking at my nails while deep in thought, sitting idly at work, or waiting 20 minutes for the F train — more often than not, it’s all three instances in the same day. BRFBs serve as an emotional regulation to release tension, helping a person cope with difficult emotions. Some of O’Connor’s research shows that people with habit disorders may have problems regulating emotions. At least during these quieter moments, I don’t disagree.
Thinking back, I’ve always been a nail biter — before that, I sucked my thumb into early elementary school, probably later than most kids. O’Connor said thumb sucking and nail biting can both “reduce tension and increase feelings of comfort,” but as of now, there is no direct link between thumb sucking in babies and nail biting later in life. That said, nail biting is “clearly linked to grooming behavior,” which most of us pick up when we’re young, during early childhood.
My daughter started biting her nails at 6, the day her mother told me she wanted a divorce. She didn’t hear the conversation, but clearly picked up on the tension.
Because the nails aren’t going to bite themselves.
Because other people won’t let you bite theirs.
I bite other people’s nails.
It’s probably why I’m a recluse and don’t have friends.
To all the PHD researchers with government funding studying every facet of our lives and stretching all reason to make sense of it all……. Bite Me.
Gee Wally, I guess maybe there is some truth to the rumor that Barry out-grew sucking his thumb some time around puberty…
It’s easier than licking your own balls. Less painful than poking a stick in your eye. And you were going to trim them anyway.
Where’s my diploma?
I had a third grade teacher that had fingernail inspection daily, looking for cleanliness, cuticle care, trim and nail biting.
I used to bite my nails until that inspection.
Sounds odd by today’s standards (or lack thereof), but it worked for me.
My mother told me once I was never a thumb-sucker, and I know I’ve never been a nail-biter. The only body-focused repetitive behavior I’ve engaged in has been post-puberty female nipple nibbling.
@phenry ~ yes, public shaming, especially at a young, peer-pressured, age goes a long ways for future civil behavior
.. & somehow we didn’t need a PhD or gubmint funding to understand that
Hmmm, I don’t bite my nails as a habit, I bite them when they get too long. Is that the same thing?
Anyways, I haven’t bit any nails since last September. That’s when my top front right tooth ruptured and was yanked. They call it the number eight tooth; I call it my nail cutting tooth.
When I was a toddler I relieved my stress by sucking my thumb.
When I was a little kid I relieved my stress by biting my nails.
When I went through puberty I started relieving my stress a different way.
I want to know all about nose picking. I know another person with that issue. : )
I bite my nails because nail clippers are for pussies….
I would bite my nails but I know where they have been.
Nails are very dirty and have bacteria in and on them.
Usually I have just finished wiping my butt or someone else’s.
I like the people who pick their nose and eat it. My sister does that.
I refuse to eat any meal she has prepared.
She can not stop doing it and has done since she was a child. I know, we
slept in the same bedroom.
When I was a young nipper and much more limber than now, I used to bite my toe nails, and suck my big toe. I was proud of my ability.
I could not do that now, so don’t ask.
@Sally June 10, 2018 at 11:11 pm
I think almost everybody on earth picks their schnozz. Imagine how many boogers have been picked since Adam and Eve. If stuck altogether in a ball, it would probably be the size of Jupiter by now.
Joke: ask someone which of their nostrils is better. When they answer “I don’t know”, tell them to look at a mirror and then say, “Go ahead, pick a nostril”.
I’m a trichotillomania sufferer. It’s horrible. I take medication to control it. It’s the only thing that has ever worked.
Read it again
Picks her nose and EATS THE BOOGERS
YUK
I have had to watch this my whole life.
I’m guessing that prior to a couple hundred years ago, pretty much everyone on the planet kept their nails trimmed with their teeth. I’m thinking there is are evolutionary advantages here–
1. Recycling protien
2. Bolster immune system
I used to trim my nails with my teeth. It was more of a geez, that thing is long and there’s no nippers in sight, type of thing. I never chewed them into nubs, but occasionally would rip too deep.
Today, the only time I bite my nails is when I get a hangnail. You know when your nail is always catching on threads? I have to quit that asap and my teeth are the closest, most convenient took around.
I basically quit trimming my nails with my teeth when I started to get serious about my teeth and preserving them unlike the previous 40 odd years. As a bonus, my nails are stronger, neater and less likely to split now that they’re always trimmed with the proper equipment. My cuticles are better off as well!