Biting Nails Psychology

Nail biting is a habit, which is commonly observed in children and teenagers. Go through this article to know more about the psychology behind this habit.
Nail biting, which is commonly seen in children and adolescents, is an oral compulsive habit. It is one of the body-focused repetitive behavior, which cause damage to physical appearance or any physical injury. Other such habits are compulsive skin picking (dermatillomania), compulsive hair pulling (trichotillomania), compulsive skin biting (dermatophagia) and compulsive nose picking (rhinotillexomania). Nail biting is clinically known as onychophagia. Most nail biters bite their nails, beyond the nail beds and pick, bite or chew the cuticles till they bleed. They have sore and red fingertips, which may be infected too. Usually nail biters tend to hide their hands, so that nobody notices their unpleasant looking nails. It may affect their self-esteem, as they have a constant feeling of embarrassment.

Nail Biting Prevalence

Nail biting is a habit, which starts in late childhood. There are some children, who develop this habit at a very young age. But, in most cases, late childhood or early teens is associated with the development of nail biting habit. Nail biting is so prevalent that according to some studies, around 30% to 33% of children in the age group of 7 to 10, have this habit. Nail biting habit is not limited to children only, but teenagers, young adults and a very few older adults too have this habit. As some of the kids outgrow this habit, as they grow, others take this habit to adulthood and even old age. So, the prevalence of nail biting in teenagers is about 44%, whereas in young adults, it is around 20% to 30%. You may be surprised to know that 5% of older adults also have the habit of nail biting.

Biting Nails Psychology

Even though, nail biting is a common compulsive habit, along with hair pulling and nose picking, these body-focused repetitive behavior are often misdiagnosed and not treated properly. There are various theories regarding biting nails psychology and the development of nail biting habit. The most common explanations for this habit is that for nail biters, it is a sort of stress relief technique.

Some theories suggest that it is related to genetics, while others consider it as an obsessive compulsive disorder. It has also been observed that some people bite nails due to hunger and boredom too. In some kids, biting nails bad habit has been related to thumb sucking, but, it is not necessary that all thumb suckers must have the habit of nail biting. As these habits are now classified as body-focused repetitive behavior, it may come under the group of obsessive-compulsive disorders. However, some health experts are of the opinion that these habits cannot be considered as obsessive compulsive disorders. Studies regarding these habits are still underway. We shall take a look at the common factors that affect biting nails psychology.

Genetics: One of the theories regarding the habit of nail biting is that nail biting is related to genetics. If any of the parents have this habit either during childhood or from childhood to present day, then there are chances that the child may also develop this habit. It means that the chances of development of nail biting habit in such children is higher, as compared to their counterparts.

Stress Relief or Stimulation: It has been observed that most of the nail biters derive some pleasure and relaxation from this habit, while under stress. Nail biting activity provides a soothing effect on their nerves and reduces the levels of stimulation. In short, nail biting is an activity to stimulate their nerves, when they feel bored or stressed out. It is like self regulating the nervous system with the help of nail biting habit.

Perfectionism: Nail biting habit may arise from a person's constant efforts to fix the irregularities in nails. They may examine their nails for hours and try to get rid of these irregularities by chewing and picking. More often, this leads to more nail damage. So, biting nails psychology of such persons is based on perfectionism, which is aimed at having perfect nails.

Some theories suggest that vitamin deficiency may also lead to nail biting habit. However, biting nails is unhealthy as it can transport germs from beneath the nails to the mouth and may cause diseases. Moreover, biting nails disorder is bad for teeth, as it put a lot of stress on the teeth.

There are various treatments to eliminate the habit of biting nails and skin. There are medications include antidepressants, B vitamin and inositol. Some people find relief in behavioral therapy, which consists of habit reversal training and stimulus control therapy. While the first part, i.e., habit reversal training aims at eliminating the habit and replacing it with some constructive habit, the second part-stimulus control therapy, aims at identifying and eradicating the stimulus that triggers the frequent nail biting. Aversion therapy is also helpful in nail biting cure. In this treatment, there are different methods like coating the nails with nail polish or covering them with rubber bands, in order to prevent nail biting. A combination of all these treatment options can work best. In case of children, other family members must try to understand the biting nails psychology and help them to eliminate the habit.
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