It can ruin the appearance of your hands, could be
unhygienic and can hurt if you take it too far. So why
do people do it? Biter Tom Stafford investigates
What do ex-British prime minster
Gordon Brown, Jackie Onassis, Britney
Spears and I all have in common? We
all are (or were) nail biters.
It's not a habit I'm proud of. It's
pretty disgusting for other people to
watch, ruins the appearance of my
hands, is probably unhygienic and
sometimes hurts if I take it too far.
I've tried to quit many times, but have
never managed to keep it up.
Lately I've been wondering what
makes someone an inveterate nail-
biter like me. Are we weaker willed?
More neurotic? Hungrier? Perhaps,
somewhere in the annals of
psychological research there could be
an answer to my question, and maybe
even hints about how to cure myself of
this unsavoury habit.
My first dip into the literature shows
up the medical name for excessive nail
biting: 'onychophagia'. Psychiatrists
classify it as an impulse control
problem, alongside things like
obsessive compulsive disorder. But this
is for extreme cases, where
psychiatric help is beneficial, as with
other excessive grooming habits like
skin picking or hair pulling . I'm not at that
stage, falling instead among the
majority of nail biters who carry on
the habit without serious side effects.
Up to 45% of teenagers bite their nails, for
example; teenagers may be a handful
but you wouldn't argue that nearly
half of them need medical
intervention. I want to understand the
'subclinical' side of the phenomenon –
nail biting that isn't a major problem,
but still enough of an issue for me to
want to be rid of it.
It’s mother’s fault
Psychotherapists have had some
theories about nail biting, of course.
Sigmund Freud blamed it on arrested
psycho-sexual development, at the oral
stage (of course). Typical to Freudian
theories, oral fixation is linked to
myriad causes, such as under-feeding
or over-feeding, breast-feeding too
long, or problematic relationship with
your mother. It also has a grab-bag of
resulting symptoms: nail biting, of
course, but also a sarcastic
personality, smoking, alcoholism and
love of MouthAction. Other therapists have
suggested nail-biting may be due to inward
hostility – it is a form of self-mutilation
after all – or nervous anxiety.
View image of Some have argued that nail biters are
more likely to be alcoholic, but actual evidence is thin
(Thinkstock)
Like most psychodynamic theories
these explanations could be true, but
there's no particular reason to believe
they should be true. Most importantly
for me, they don't have any strong
suggestions on how to cure myself of
the habit. I've kind of missed the boat
as far as extent of breast-feeding
goes, and I bite my nails even when
I'm at my most relaxed, so there
doesn't seem to be an easy fix there
either. Needless to say, there's no
evidence that treatments based on
these theories have any special
success.
Unfortunately, after these
speculations, the trail goes cold. A
search of a scientific literature
reveals only a handful of studies on
treatment of nail-biting. One reports
that any treatment which made people
more aware of the habit seemed to help , but
beyond that there is little evidence to
report on the habit. Indeed, several of
the few articles on nail-biting open by
commenting on the surprising lack of
literature on the topic.
Creature of habit
Given this lack of prior scientific
treatment, I feel free to speculate for
myself. So, here is my theory on why
people bite their nails, and how to
treat it.
Let's call it the ‘anti-theory’ theory. I
propose that there is no special cause
of nail biting – not breastfeeding,
chronic anxiety or a lack of motherly
love. The advantage of this move is
that we don't need to find a particular
connection between me, Gordon , Jackie
and Britney. Rather, I suggest, nail biting
is just the result of a number of
factors which – due to random
variation – combine in some people to
create a bad habit.
First off, there is the fact that putting
your fingers in your mouth is an easy
thing to do. It is one of the basic
functions for feeding and grooming,
and so it is controlled by some pretty
fundamental brain circuitry, meaning it
can quickly develop into an automatic
reaction. Added to this, there is a
‘tidying up’ element to nail biting –
keeping them short – which means in
the short term at least it can be
pleasurable, even if the bigger picture
is that you end up tearing your fingers
to shreds. This reward element,
combined with the ease with which the
behaviour can be carried out, means
that it is easy for a habit to develop;
apart from touching yourself in the
genitals it is hard to think of a more
immediate way to give yourself a small
moment of pleasure, and biting your
nails has the advantage of being OK
at school. Once established, the habit
can become routine – there are many
situations in everyone's daily life
where you have both your hands and
your mouth available to use.
View image of Does nail biting have a simple
explanation? (SPL)
Understanding nail-biting as a habit
has a bleak message for a cure,
unfortunately, since we know how hard
bad habits can be to break. Most
people, at least once per day, will lose
concentration on not biting their nails.
Nail-biting, in my view, isn't some
revealing personality characteristic,
nor a maladaptive echo of some useful
evolutionary behaviour. It is the
product of the shape of our bodies,
how hand-to-mouth behaviour is built
into (and rewarded in) our brains and
the psychology of habit.
And, yes, I did bite my nails while
writing this column. Sometimes even a
good theory doesn't help.


http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140710-why-do-we-bite-our-nails

Am not proud of it either

jst started biting ny nails few yrs ago. stil wonderin wat inspired it. Workin on quittin it though.







Pls hit ''like'' if u didnt finish reading d post like me.

lol

Thanks op first time I've read up on my problem ( nail biter ) I wear fake nails which helps greatly!

Dimples192:
Thanks op first time I've read up on my problem ( nail biter ) I wear fake nails which helps greatly!

LOL, I don't think u like to bite u nail if u fixed artificial nail as most ladies do