Nail-biting joins OC disorders

The American Psychiatric Association plans to include nail-biting as a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual revision for 2013. The disorder, known as onychophagia, will join hairpulling, skin-picking and other pathological grooming habits in the OCD classification.

“I’ve seen people who have bloody stumps,” said Keri Maki, a master nail technician in Minnetonka, Minn. “The nail bed is bitten back to almost nothing, there are scabs around the cuticle. It’s pretty disgusting.”

Nail-biting is currently listed in the manual’s “not otherwise classified” section of disorders.

The association isn’t saying that all nail-biters are obsessive-compulsive. In fact, up to 48 percent of adults do it, but some have moved beyond nail-biting as a habit and into what is called clinical severity— the point when the action is so severe that there is physical damage.

Experts say people bite their nails for a variety of reasons: out of boredom, as a way to soothe themselves when they feel anxious, stressed or even as a symptom of perfectionism —using the teeth to reshape an uneven nail.

Treatment includes the use of bittertasting polish, keeping nails manicured or in more severe cases, medication and counseling.

Maki also recommends chewing gum, using a stress ball to keep your hands busy, carryinga nail file and getting regular manicures.

She added: “If you invest a little money on your fingernails, you might not be so quick to chew them up.”

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