<p>Just wondering if anyone has dealt with compulsive nail-biting. I don’t mean absent-mindedly nibbling a bit out of boredom. I’m talking about someone who bites his nails as far down as they’ll go, to the point of pain, and can’t stop. But then, for no reason, he’ll go for two or three months without biting them at all. And again, one day, boom—he’s totally ravaging his fingertips again and can’t stop for months. He says he even catches himself with his fingers in his mouth while he’s asleep!</p>
<p>I was wondering if drugs for OCD might help someone like this, since it does seem to be a true compulsion. I’ve read that some psychologists consider compulsive nail-biting to be no different than compulsive hand-washing, porn addiction, or even Tourette’s Syndrome. But is there anything else that would help? Anybody have any experience with this?</p>
<p>H has bitten his nails to the quick all his life, and D, who takes after him in many, many ways, has inherited the trait. I think it is indeed a form of compulsive behavior, albeit a pretty harmless one that I don’t feel is serious enough to merit taking medication. (I remember begging/bribing D to let just one nail grow in hopes she’d like the result and be convince to quit–she lasted only a few days, and I realized it wasn’t a matter of choice for her.) Both S and I bit our nails in childhood and adolescence, but quit when vanity took over, I think that’s a common story. But there’s a percentage of people who can never quit. I’ve never known anyone to stop for an extended period and then start again–that’s really odd.</p>
<p>Habit reversal won’t work in your sleep, will it? How about barrier methods? We taped socks on the boy chewing his toenails. He had a LOT of problems.</p>
<p>My dad was a confirmed nail biter and so am I. I quit a few times when I was young and had long nails which I kept manicured but always eventually started biting again. I don’t put pressure on myself to quit anymore; it’s just way down on the list of self-improvement. I would never take medication for this. It’s an unattractive habit, I’ll admit, but I can’t see a reason to take drugs for it even if it somehow has a compulsive aspect to it, because taking drugs seems like a much bigger deal than biting one’s nails. </p>
<p>I think that comparing nail biting to compulsive hand washing, porn or Tourettes is extreme. Hand washing can really interfere with someone’s life if it’s extreme. Porn can consume many hours a week of someone’s time and affect their sexual life and relationships. Tourettes can be extremely disruptive on every front of someone’s life. No one has ever told me that my nailbiting was hurting our relationship. I have never lost a job, failed a class, or had any kind of negative ramification in my life from it although I do make a conscious effort to not put my hands in my mouth when I’ve been exposed to germs, cold/flu season, etc.</p>
<p>I know from personal experience that alot of compulsive behaviors can be triggered by things such as stress or lack of sleep. As Shrinkrap noted, barrier methods may be necessary. When I feel anxious, I put bandaids on all 10 fingers to prohibit the behavior.</p>
<p>Thanks for your replies, everyone. This is of much interest to me. I’m asking for my brother-in-law, but I have long bitten my nails, too, though rarely to the point of pain, except accidentally by pulling off too big a piece. And that hurts so badly that I can’t imagine doing it to all ten fingers on a regular basis!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My understanding is that this may not work because there is an element of misplaced perfectionism to nail-biting. At least some nail-biters are biting their nails in order to even them out, remove rough spots, etc., and when one nail is different from the others, it drives them nuts. The one well-developed nail would stick out like…well, like a sore thumb. Or pinky, or whichever finger it’s on. Still, it’s an interesting idea, growing the nails back one at a time. It seems like it might work for some people.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Wouldn’t it? Probably not at first, but once the change in habit is really ingrained, it should alter behavior even unconsciously. (I think. I’m no pro at this stuff.)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Now that would certainly work during the night. It would be pretty weird during the day, though.</p>
<p>zapfino, what else can you tell me about habit reversal? I’ve looked it up and see that it involves finding a substitute for the undesired habit, sometimes developing a desirable habit in its place. But how does one or one’s therapist manage this process? And what sort of desirable habit might be developed in place of nail-biting?</p>
<p>I bit my nails to the point of bleeding for years. It drove my parents nuts…which increased the stress, and the nail biting. My parents tried everything–bitter stuff on my finger nails, promises of pretty rings, etc. I think what finally worked was finding some other way to burn off stress (stress balls worked in my case, and it kept my hands busy).
(stress balls can be about a cup or so of flour in a balloon–my Girl Scout troop made them this way).</p>
<p>One of my kids bites both finger and toe nails. Not sure how she does the toes. I think it is a nervous habit. She is trying to grow the nails out enough to actually get a manicure. We are reminding her when we see her hand go to the mouth.
Another of my kids was a finger sucker. She quit with the help of a speech therapist. She listened to a relaxation, guided mediation tape at night. We taped her hands with tube socks and duct tape. Some mornings the socks were off. In the car she wore the type of device you would wear over a broken finger. It was a difficult habit to break.</p>
<p>One nail biter I know gets some benefit from a professional manicure (this is a guy). The buffing and filing made even the bitten down nails look nicer. @ post 8, I think you are right that there can be an element of trying to “even out” the look, but to me this really does sound like OCD.</p>
<p>Sorry I wasn’t clear, but that is what I meant. It’s a compulsion to make the nails “perfect”, which ironically results in them looking worse, according to some theories.</p>
<p>My BIL says manicures have helped him, but he has to get them often, and that they are painful, apparently from pushing back the damaged cuticles. He says he can normally go for a few days to a week without biting after a manicure, probably because the nails and cuticles are smooth, reducing the temptation to nibble on loose skin and rough spots.</p>
<p>This is starting to sound pretty gross, isn’t it? Actually it is gross. Compulsive nail-biters’ nails sometimes look really mangled.</p>
<p>I wonder if there might be an element of body dysmorphia. Could it be that nail-biters don’t realize how terrible their nails look? Just as it’s hard to imagine how an anorexic would continue to starve herself if she could perceive her body the way others do, it’s hard to imagine a nail-biter continuing to ravage her nails if she understood how awful her fingers looked. But I’m just speculating.</p>
<p>I have several family members who pick at their nails, or more accurately, the skin around their nails. There seems to be some genetic component to the habit, but also they pick at anything rough anywhere on anything! One of them tried acrylic nails and did not pick at all as the acrylics were not thin enough to pick with!</p>
<p>I think they see it as ugly, not body dysmorphic, but are picking unconsciously</p>
<p>^^^I’m embarassed to acknowledge that I pick at the skin around my thumbs. No other fingers, and I’ve never been a nail biter, but I pick and nibble and so forth to the point that my thumbs will bleed perhaps once every two or three weeks. Stress makes it worse. I am convinced it’s a form of OCD. My mother did the exact same thing. And Yes, if there is a piece of dry skin, or a piece that’s different than the other parts, I feel a compulsion to nibble at it to smooth it out. I haven’t had a manicure in decades due to this – I don’t need to pay someone good money to have them yell at me for biting my thumbs!</p>
<p>VeryHappy–I did the same thing–picked at my cuticles–all of them, not just my thumbs. Ten years ago, I broke my ankle and need a plate and pins. After the surgery, I got home and realized that my cuticles/nails looked great (I didn’t mess with them in the hospital). I got a manicure that week, which I hadn’t done in years and years. I’m not sure why, but I’ve left my cuticles alone ever since. I’m not even tempted when I’m stressed. I do make an effort to get regular manicures, so that my nails/cuticles are hydrated and look good.</p>
<p>Well, I don’t wish for a broken ankle with screws and pins, but it would be very nice if my little obsession would disappear all on its own. I could no sooner stop chewing my thumbs than I could stop breathing. It’s truly given me an understanding of what it must be like to have an obsession that interferes with one’s daily life. My heart breaks for those people.</p>
Still, it’s an interesting idea, growing the nails back one at a time. It seems like it might work for some people.</p>