Anxious habits like nail biting can be a symptom of problems such as stress and anxiety. Solution focused hypnotherapy uses positive goal setting to manage the broader issues, while also improving the symptoms.
Here’s how hypnotherapy helps to reroute your neural pathways – and puts an end to unhelpful habits such as nail biting.
Why do people bite their nails?
Nail biting, also called “onychophagia”, is a common nervous habit. It’s on a spectrum from a cosmetic issue to a serious infection risk, and the appearance of bitten nails and skin can also affect the individual’s self-esteem (another of those awful vicious circles). It can be conscious or unconscious, and often starts in childhood.
While many people nervously chew on their fingers or nails occasionally, how do we know when it becomes pathological? Onychophagia is a repetitive behaviour that comes under “body-focused behaviour disorders” (BFBD). These are characterised by “self-grooming” behaviours that cause distress and feel impossible to stop.
Nail biting can be triggered by stressful situations or anxiety, as well as boredom and concentration. Some neurotypes are more predisposed to nail biting than others, and even certain medications can start a BFBD habit.
How can I stop biting my nails?
How you stop biting your nails depends on why you bite your nails, which is why it’s really important to know what triggers it. If you bite your nails when you’re bored or concentrating on something, those old-fashioned barrier remedies like foul-tasting ointments and gloves can actually help. And if you’re reading this as the carer of a nail-biting child or teen, there’s actually a reasonable chance they’ll grow out of it.
If nail biting is a result of stress or anxiety, it can be a harder habit to break, and that’s where therapies like solution focused hypnotherapy come in. This works through habit reversal training, which involves managing the underlying causes and triggers. My work with clients who bite their nails is two-fold: positive future goal setting and psychoeducation to help retrain the brain.
How can hypnotherapy help you overcome repetitive behaviours?
I recently helped a client who wanted to stop biting her nails. After our initial chat, it became clear that her stress bucket was overflowing – there was a lot going on in her life. She was anxious in social situations and experiencing a lot of negative self-talk, and nail biting was a symptom of her stress and anxiety. She had also become self-conscious of her bitten nails and skin, which made things even harder for her. With a clear goal in sight – to stop biting her nails – we could start her hypnotherapy sessions.
We began each session by looking at what had gone well since the last one, focusing on all her positive achievements. One week, she told me she’d been more assertive at work (in a good way!) and another, she’d just come back from a hen weekend that had been worrying her. And as her self-confidence came back, her nail biting decreased. See the beautiful results in this photo below.
Re-routing neural pathways
Bitten nails can be a “by-product” of other stresses and anxieties. My client and I discussed neural pathways to reassure her that you can create new habits through repetition. If she found herself biting her nails, the intellectual side of her brain would make a conscious decision to re-route along the new pathway. With time and repetition, this new path would become the default route and the old pathway would eventually vanish. She told me that this way of thinking helped: if she caught herself putting her hand up to her mouth, she would consciously think “No” and use a way to distract herself.
I find that discussing neural pathways and neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to reorganise) helps my clients understand how their brains work – and how they have the power to change unhelpful habits. None of us has to be stuck with a habit like nail biting or skin picking.
Hypnotherapy for repetitive behaviours
Do you struggle with a repetitive body-focused behaviour disorder like nail biting? Together, we can help you overcome it for good. If you’re worried about nail biting or another BFBD, please contact me for a confidential chat.
