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Hypnosis Berlin

Hypnosis for Nail Biting
Regain Groomed and Beautiful Nails

Are you ashamed of chewed fingernails? Do you suffer from torn and inflamed cuticles? Do you hide your hands when paying at the supermarket checkout and in restaurants? Then you probably suffer from onychophagia. This is the name given to the biting, chewing and gnawing of fingernails. If you don't know it, you're probably wondering what the problem is. After all, it's just an annoying habit that you can easily stop with a little willpower. But it isn't. Excessive nail biting is a behavioral addiction that many people suffer from. Psychologists say that up to 45 percent of all teenagers suffer from onychophagia. The percentage is also quite high among adults. However, these have usually learned better to hide the consequences. Women use artificial fingernails for this purpose, for example. Hypnosis helps to finally stop biting fingernails and to have beautiful and well-groomed fingernails and hands.
Hypnosis for Nail Biting - Regain Groomed and Beautiful Nails
Image: Hypnosis for Nail Biting - Regain Groomed and Beautiful Nails

Nail biting symptoms

How to tell if you have onychophagia (fingernail biting)

Fingernail biting is the biting of fingernails with the teeth. Most of the time, people affected bite their fingernails without realizing it and especially in stressful situations. Nail biting usually starts in childhood and adolescence and becomes less with growing older or even stops in adulthood - but not always. Many adults engage in fingernail biting into adulthood.

Fingernail biting manifests itself in people through different symptoms and reactions on a physical and psychological level:

Physical Symptoms
Usually there are physical symptoms associated with fingernail biting, such as physical tension and inner turmoil. This causes physical damage and also sores on fingers on the nails and cuticles, which can also lead to infections and pain.
Psychological Symptoms
Psychological symptoms show in fingernail biting through feelings of anxiety, internal pressure and tension, which are regulated by biting the nail and thus lead to relief. Affected people report shame and guilt associated with the visible physical wounds on the fingers, some also report problems in close relationships.

An example from an onychophagia sufferer who stopped fingernail biting with hypnosis

For me, hypnotherapy was a completely new experience. (Reason: separation) I felt comfortable with Isabella at all times and could completely and honestly confide in her. So far it came to 2 sessions, which were not very favorable. However, you invest in yourself and your future. Surprisingly, after some time my back problems got better and Fingernails I also no longer chew! So only to recommend!

Nail biting self test

Do I suffer from onychophagia - nail biting?

The following questions may be initial clues as to whether you have onychophagia:
  • 1

    Do you experience isolated episodes of intense tension, feelings of frustration and stress, and nervousness?
  • 2

    Do you experience any of the following symptoms when you try not to bite your fingernails: Anxiety, tension, inner turmoil, and pressure?
  • 3

    Do you sometimes find it difficult to relax?
  • 4

    Do you experience shame or guilt when you bite your fingernails again?
  • 5

    Do you have the impression that you would prefer to hide your hands from others?
If you can answer yes to one or more of these questions and feel restricted in your daily life and living, you should seek medical or therapeutic advice. You may have onychophagia. Please note that questions are always asked broadly, so it is possible that people who are not affected by onychophagia may get a positive result. Not everyone who chews a fingernail once in a while suffers from onychophagia.

Nail biting causes

Causes of nail biting

Biting fingernails is for most people a strategy to deal with stress and to provide relaxation or to endure conflict situations. Fingernail biting can also be a sign of another mental illness such as depression or certain anxieties or fearful situations such as fear of flying or phobias, inner turmoil and tension, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and attachment disorders.
According to Steffen Moritz, professor of clinical neuropsychologist, there are several causes of onychophagia. It is often a sign of tension and nervousness. In many cases, brittle fingernails or even split nails are also involved. These are then bitten off instead of filed. This behavior can take on a life of its own and develop into an addiction. Adolescents in puberty are particularly affected by nail biting. They are often tense, many things in life are new and cause stress and insecurity. In many cases, however, nail biting is also a symptom of a deeper psychological disorder.

Nail biting consequences

What are some of the consequences of nail biting?

The longer nail biting continues and remains untreated, the greater the suffering of those affected. Affected persons feel helpless and have more and more the impression that they cannot change the situation at will.

Summarize the consequences of nail biting as follows:
  • Unkempt appearance
  • Affected persons feel ashamed because they cannot change anything about the situation
  • Stigmatization by the environment
  • Inflammation, which is often painful and can even lead to blood poisoning
  • Low self-confidence due to the obviousness of nail biting
  • Nail biting can harm your career

Nail biting and subsequent problems

The consequences of onychophagia are first of all cosmetic nature. Fingernails and fingertips are covered with small scars. Everything looks unkempt. This causes the affected person to feel ashamed. By the way, there is no difference between men and women. The affected persons are mostly stigmatized by the social environment. They are considered weak, weak-willed, inhibited and insecure. Affected persons are less likely to be promoted, they are rarely found in management positions, and they have problems choosing a partner. This often leads them to use any means to conceal the behavioral addiction and thus resort to other, less visible addictive substances. In addition, there is also the medical aspect. Often, fingernails are bitten so deeply that fingertips and cuticles or even the nail bed become inflamed. This is not only very painful, it can also lead to blood poisoning.

Nail biting = weak-willed?

Nail biting harms professional success

If you sit in an interview with chewed fingernails, you can expect not to get the job. It sounds harsh, but it's just the same. Why?
People who bite their fingernails are considered weak-willed. They are said to lack self-confidence, to be unable to assert themselves. Psychological weakness and nail biting belong together so intensively in the consciousness of most people that the vice is often used in films, on stage or in novels as a symbol for psychologically deranged evildoers. In our enlightened times, resentment against people who bite their fingernails is one of the few socially accepted prejudices of all. No wonder, then, that decision-makers in boardrooms and human resources departments have learned to pay attention to fingernails. After all, they are convinced that this is a real indication of a person's character. Even if you are already in the workforce, nail biting will hinder your career progress. Maybe you are really good professionally and your boss is very pleased with you. But will he recommend you for a management position or give you an important client project? If you are self-employed, it is even more important that you stop biting your nails with hypnosis. After all, you want to appear competent and reliable to your clients. In other words, exactly the opposite of what fingernail biting supposedly says about you or could possibly convey to your counterpart.

Nail biting hypnosis treatment

Nail biting is a behavioral addiction

Once nail biting has become a behavioral addiction, it occurs completely unconsciously. In most cases, those affected do not even notice that they have their finger in their mouth again. There are a number of bitter tinctures and similar products on the market that are intended to help children and young people break the habit of nail biting. However, this often leads to substitute actions, especially when there is a strong psychological injury behind the onychophagia. A typical substitute action is smoking, because it also occupies the hands and mouth. Behavioral therapy also works with substitute actions. For example, the affected person should put his hand to his throat instead of putting it in his mouth. But here, too, there is a risk that the problem will shift and be replaced by a new, albeit less unpleasant, "tic."

Treating onychophagia (nail biting) with hypnosis

Hypnotherapy, on the other hand, deals directly with the subconscious mind It provides the sufferer with a real deep relaxation, then finds the cause of onychophagia and animates the self-control that is inherent in every human being. But now en detail. The hypnosis session begins with a detailed anamnesis in which I, together with you, get a first impression of the situation. After that we go to our first session. You will relax completely and then, according to your own rhythm, begin the journey to your subconscious. Here you will learn when and in which situations you bite your nails. For example, you can now give your inner guardian the order to warn you every time you bring your finger to your mouth. This way, you will be much more aware and attentive already after the first session. The following hypnosis sessions will then focus more and more on the actual causes of onychophagia. You will get to know your inner helpers, make contact with your own strength and thus be able to give up nail biting without establishing a substitute action for it.

Hypnotherapy for nail biting in adolescents and children

Nail biting should never be underestimated, especially in children and teenagers. It is one of the first addictions that can afflict a person and it paves the way for many more. Children with bitten fingernails are more often bullied than others. They have worse chances at school and later in their careers. This makes them insecure and inhibits their development. When children realize that they are stigmatized because of their nibbled fingernails, they look for substitute actions. Often they occupy their fingers with the cell phone. However, teenagers in particular still far too often replace nail biting with smoking. Don't let it stand in line! Support your child in his fight against onychophagia. Help your child together with Hypnose Berlin to stop nail biting.

More Information

Hypnosis Appointment Booking

  • The first hypnosis session usually lasts 120 minutes and includes getting to know each other, a detailed anamnesis and your first hypnosis.
    After booking an appointment in the online calendar, you will receive detailed information about your hypnosis session by email and will receive the hypnosis e-book free of charge when you book the first session. Follow-up appointments usually last 90 - 120 minutes, depending on the current situation and the resulting needs.
    You can find detailed information about the prices under Hypnosis Prices.
  • Smaller topics and issues can sometimes be solved in one session. In particular, hypnosis for smoking cessation takes place in one intensive session. More complex issues that accompany people longer are treated in four sessions on average. Hypnotherapy is to be understood as a short therapy. There are also exceptions where I support clients over several years at their express request.
  • Usually clients come for a follow-up appointment at an interval of 1 to 4 weeks. I have had very good experiences with a session interval of 1 to 2 weeks. I would like to emphasize here that in my experience this depends on the topic and the client.
  • Under the following link you can select and book your appointment yourself in the online calendar: Make an Appointment.
  • You will receive an invoice for each session. This does NOT show any fee codes of the GebüH and does not contain any diagnoses. The session is to be paid privately at the end of the session in cash or with EC card. The practice does NOT bill public and private insurances.
  • You can find more questions and answers in the Hypnosis FAQ section - frequently asked questions about hypnosis.

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