Nail Biting

[YT2095]

What compels some people to bite their nails?

often to the point of pain and bleeding with some folks.

it effects male as well as female, although mostly males.

why would someone inflict such injuries upon themselves beyond once?

 

any ideas?

[Sayonara]

That's a good question, I'd never really given it much thought before.

 

Hmmm.

[Dudde]

well you've got masochists, they do it all the time, so the better question would be

 

"what compells one to bite their nails"

and anyway, ....it is a good question, but then again, what compells some people to pick their nose?

 

just a habit I guess...let's wait for glider

[wolfson]

The habit usually starts in childhood and occasionally the nailbiting part of the mind acts like a different individual within us, it is often fixated in childhood and, like a child, the more we lecture it to stop, the more it bites. In some cases you may use hypnosis to actually communicate and negotiate with this part in order to get it to totally reverse the damage it is doing. (If you've not already done so see my pages on hypnosis and hypnotherapy)

[cited Aspects of clinical medicine, 1995, pp105-110]

[YT2095]

Picking noses I expect is due to irritation factors when a child can`t breate properly through it`s nose, and so wishes to clear the obstruction.

as for masochism? Hmmm... there MAYBE an element of that in it I guess, as it seems ilogical without that component.

there is deffinately a habit factor, but why on Earth should it be "habit forming"?

[blike]

I bite my finger nails. I'm not sure why, I just started doing it one day, and I can't stop. Its an addiction for me. I recently stopped for about a month. Even though I would not bite them, I would always run my nail over my tooth, especially when they got normal length (some coming over the bed of the nail). Eventually, I bit one off, and then another...and now i'm back to biting them again. I don't bite them bad like some people, though I have occasionally bit a couple till they've bled on accident. My hands look normal, you probably wouldnt' be able to tell that I bite them. You'd think I just clipped them a little short.

[Sayonara]

Dirty, dirty nail-biters.

 

I pick my nose for fun and profit.

[aman]

Back in high school I knew a girl with a nail biting to the nub personality. She experimented one night with a drug (stimulant) and wound up getting goose bumps really bad. She locked herself in the bathroom for two hours and popped every goose bump all over her body.

I guess a stimulant can make small compulsions worse.

Just aman

[iglak]

i'd bet that biting nails is genetic, and was a way too keep them from getting too long.

 

i pick my nose, but that's because i have allergies, and my nose gets stuffed up to the point that the mucus hardens and irritates if i don't pick it once in a while. on a side note: i never had a nosebleed.

[gene]

I pick my nose whenever i feel it is block and that oxygen can't flow in properly. And it can be irritating sometimes. Well, about nails, i don't really bite them. But, i tend to put my finger near my teeth and bite my finger.

[Rasori]

When I'm bored I tend to stuff my hand in my mouth and bite hard enough that I can see the teeth marks for about 10 minutes..

 

Come to think of it, I do that when I'm both bored and tired... it wakes me up a bit.

[gene]

iglak said in post #9 :

i'd bet that biting nails is genetic, and was a way too keep them from getting too long.

 

i pick my nose, but that's because i have allergies, and my nose gets stuffed up to the point that the mucus hardens and irritates if i don't pick it once in a while. on a side note: i never had a nosebleed.

 

It doesn't mean that when you dig your nose, you will get nosebleed. I'm not sure how science explains nosebleed. But here in Singapore, as a chinese, my grandma, says that we are "heaty" and so we get nosebleed.

[Darken]

In some cases, I conclude, people bite their nails to control anxiety. Notice that when you are nervous, tired, mad, you will bite your nails or play with your hands.

 

I have depression, and often when I'm under too much pressure, mad, sad, anxious, I bite my nails to the point that it hurts. At that point I start biting the skin around the nails.

 

In other people it starts as something you don't pay attention to, but eventually it becomes an adiction.

[Duke]

I've bit my nails all my life. i just do it when I get bored.