Nail biting is a habit common to millions of people around the world. Although regarded as a harmless gesture, psychologists warn that the habit may be based on dangerous mental disorders. The news might cause people who bite nails to think about it, even if they started long time ago when their only concern was what new toys they want to play with.
Millions of people around the world are biting their nails whether it’s children or adults. However, doctors warn that this harming gesture is based on a quite serious mental illness, says the British tabloid Daily Mail in its electronic edition.
According to specialists, nail-biting may turn into a very dangerous problem, more difficult to quit than smoking. Health professionals have conducted a series of studies on this habit and are serious about changing its classification from a harmless gesture to obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Self-harming gesture, similar to ADHD
The Psychiatric Association in the United States is about to place the nail-biting in the category of self-harming gestures in the next edition of the diagnostic manual of mental illnesses, according to NBC which quotes the same source. Moreover, nail-biting may resemble the typical ADHD behavior, experts say.
“Just as some patients proceed to pull their hair or their skin causing self-harm gestures, those who bite their nails could be placed in the same category with people suffering from mental instability, but in a very restricted category of patients,” said Dr. Carol Mathews, a psychiatrist at the University of California, according to NBC.
Nail biting is usually regarded as a very serious practice when patient causes their own pain, and then can not use their hands because wounds can lead to serious infections. Also, when people bite their nails, the habit can cause a number of diseases, as germs can be spread from nails directly on the lips or in the mouth.
A little more unconventional cure for nail-biting to waive offered by doctors, is application of lemon juice or hot sauce on the nails, or cover the nails with bandages.
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