Chewing Your Fingernails Isn’t a Bad Habit, It Could Be a Mental Disorder

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, the definition of a pet peeve is "something that annoys or bothers a person very much; or a frequent subject of complaint."

With that definition in mind, I'm almost 100% certain that everyone has some sort of a pet peeve. Without even a second of hesitation I can say that the pet peeve that annoys me the most are people who bite their fingernails!

If nail biting is the pet peeve that you hate the most, or even if it ranks in the top 5 pet peeves or bad habits that get under your skin, there's something you should know. Medical experts are now saying that people who chew their nails are not dealing with a bad habit, but possibly a mental disorder.

Before you start doubting the sanity of people around you, psychiatrist Dr. Carol Mathews of the University of California, San Francisco, points out that the majority of nail biters are not suffering from debilitating mental disorders. Nail biting is only considered a disorder if it impairs, distresses or meets a clinical level of severity.

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But millions of people can't help biting their nails right down to "the meat", as my dad used to say. According to the American Psychiatric Association, those are the millions of people who have the potential of being diagnosed as having a full-fledged obsessive-compulsive disorder, a mental disease that is often characterized by unreasonable thoughts and fears that can lead to behaviors that are repeated.

The study, published in an issue of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, says that the severity of the action could actually put nail biting in the same OCD column as those that continuously wash their hands or even pull out their own hair.

But before you start worrying about your friend that occasionally bites their nails just a little too short, remember, experts say you only have to worry if the nail biting starts to become destructive, damages their fingers and hands or leads to infections.

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