Nail Biting… or Onychophagia – Hmmmmm ………..Quite a mouth full – OR NOT!
Statistics say that there is as many as 35% of children under the age of 12 bite their fingernails , of course this number decreases as we reach adulthood. However there is a large amount of adults who still continue to bite their nails —which includes chewing at the cuticles or the skin surrounding the nail. This habit occurs more frequently than any other nervous habit (such as hair pulling or thumb sucking).
No one knows for sure what causes onychophagia (the medical terminology for nail biting) or why it starts at such young ages. Stress is listed as a one of the major culprits, as is low self-esteem and some emotional disorders. Nail biting is a learned behaviour, if a small child sees their parent or a friend biting their nails in times of stress or inactivity, they might try it out for themselves and derive pleasure from the action, thus sparking the habit.
There are even some schools of thought that some deep dark emotional issue such as ‘Spite at a Parent’ is a major culprit. Whatever it is… lets face it, nail biting, no matter what age or gender, its pretty unsightly and most people say how they often will hide their hands as much as possible.
I’d like to share an inspiring story with you about a 76 year old gentleman by the name of Jim who came to see me in January this year. Jim had been biting his nails ever since he could remember and for no particular reason, other than he just did!
Chatting with Jim, he told me that he just wanted to stop and that I was more or less the full stop at the end of the sentence, in other words, his last hope.
Jim had one hypnosis session with me and continued to listen to a recording I’d made for him over a period of three weeks. He has sent me his last update of which he is now the proud owner of a healthy set of nails.
Hypnosis is a wonderful none intrusive modality that addresses underlying issues which can, when left unchecked prompt us to do the things we do, thus creating long term habits. These issues per say, are not always at the conscious level of our thinking or awareness. Through the use of hypnotherapy we are able to let go and direct the subconscious mind to do what it does best and create new neural pathways to better habits or behaviours.
Below are photos of Jim’s progress which he has kindly given permission to share. Needless to say, he’s extremely happy with his new set of nails and enjoys being able to have his hands on display!