While it can occur without any underlying psychiatric conditions, it's also associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), separation anxiety, tic disorder, and other mental health problems. In rare cases, nail biting may be a side effect of medication.
It is thought that nail biting may also be linked with having a perfectionist personality type. Perfectionism is associated with a low boredom threshold and a much-reduced tolerance for frustration.
Biting Nails
This habit indicates nerves or insecurity. Whether this means they are nervous about talking to you or just in general, this can be a telling body language cue. It can show that you might be making them nervous (which can be a good or bad thing).
Nail-biting is frequently associated with anxiety, because the act of chewing on nails reportedly relieves stress, tension, or boredom. People who habitually bite their nails often report that they do so when they feel nervous, bored, lonely, or even hungry.
And repeatedly biting your nails can cause some short-term issues to develop, including: Dental problems such as misalignment and chipped teeth. Fungal infections in the nail bed. Illness, as fingers pass bacteria to your mouth.
Further, from comorbidity analyses, a nail-biting habit among ADHD children was associated with maladjustment disorder, and not with anxiety disorder commonly seen in ADHD patients.
Nail biting was also more common in patients with TS with ADHD than in those without (75.0% vs 47.6%; p<0.001), but the starting age was significantly later in those with concomitant ADHD than without (5.3 vs 3.8 years; p<0.001).
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, categorizes chronic nail biting as other specified obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), classified in the same group as compulsive lip biting, nose picking, and hair pulling (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).
While skin-picking and hair-pulling are typically associated with OCD and classified as an obsessive and compulsive-related disorder, it can also occur in the context of ADHD. Skin-picking, hair-pulling, and nail-biting may be related to anxiety, sensory stimulation, and impulsivity.
Chronic nail biting often has a self-soothing quality — in fact, it provides a sense of calm — so people may use it as a coping mechanism. Sometimes, a hangnail or nail imperfection spurs you to groom a nail excessively, in order to improve the look of your nail.
Did you know your nails can reveal clues to your overall health? A touch of white here, a rosy tinge there, or some rippling or bumps may be a sign of disease in the body. Problems in the liver, lungs, and heart can show up in your nails.
But your nail-biting habit can reveal more than your stress level. According to a study out of the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, it is also a sign that you're a perfectionist. Researchers conducted a survey of 48 participants, half of whom had body-focused repetitive disorders.
Fast forward 2000 years later to early psychoanalytic scholars such as Freud who regarded nail-biting as a return to the oral stage of development, an aggressive motivation represented by biting and the desire for the breast represented by putting things in one's mouth.
Nail-biting (onychophagia) is a common stress-relieving habit. You may bite your nails in times of stress or excitement, or in times of boredom or inactivity. It can also be a learned behavior from family members.
“Stimming” refers to self-stimulating behavior, which are repetitive physical or verbal tics common in individuals with autism. To some degree, we all exhibit stimming behaviors. Nail biting, twirling your hair, drumming your fingers on the table, or cracking your knuckles are all forms of stimming.
Restless behaviors,such as nail-biting or pacing, and signsof inattentiveness and distractibility,such as mismatched socks, misappliedmakeup, or unkempt hair, may be evident,especially in more advancedstages. A patient's speech provides especiallyimportant clues to the diagnosisof a manic or hypomanic bipolarepisode.
Femite solution is used to discourage nail biting and thumb sucking habits in children. It contains denatonium benzoate as an active ingredient which as a bitter taste.
People pick their skin for different reasons. For example, they may also have a mental health condition, such as OCD or ADHD. Repetitive behaviors such as skin picking are also common symptoms of ASD. Without treatment, skin picking disorder can lead to open wounds, scars, and significant emotional distress.
As mentioned above, those with combined ADHD (ADHD-C) have symptoms of both hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive ADHD. If individuals have been diagnosed with both types of ADHD, they are considered to have combined ADHD.
ADHD stimming is repetitive behavior that helps people with ADHD concentrate and get rid of excess energy. Here's what to know about the different types of stimming and how to manage it in children or yourself. Jul 22, 2022.
Nail biting almost always begins in childhood. It's a behavior often associated with stress or anxiety, but it's likely more complicated than that. For instance, one theory is that it helps some people regulate their emotions — or it feels like it does anyways.
A common (but rarely discussed) comorbid diagnosis related to ADHD is body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB), with symptoms ranging from nail biting to hair pulling to cheek biting that children and adults can't control.