Posted by Eddie Sylvano on June 22, 2003, at 15:18:02
In reply to Cuticle destruction, posted by 2em on June 20, 2003, at 22:17:27
>In times of high stress I will pick until I bleed. I have shared this with my therapist and psychiatrist but neither have seemed too concerned with the habit.
----------------I posted almost the exact same topic a month ago. Within the last year or so I've taken to tearing out shreds of cuticle around my thumb, which created more shards of skin/cuticle, which prompted more tearing, eventually altering the skin and nail border on my thumb. I do it almost unconciously, running a fingernail under a bit of skin along the side of the nail, and seperating it from the underlying skin.
I don't know why I do this. It's relaxing, in some odd sort of way, I guess. It's not any desire to test reality via pain or all that. I too mentioned it to my doctor, who was also wholly unimpressed with my concern. I think that doctors only take interest in things if they've been taught to, and that's a pretty narrow range of knowledge. Left to explain it myself, then, I can only assume it serves a self-stimulatory and relaxation purpose. I also fidget a lot (mostly constant leg or foot shaking), which I feel fulfills the same end. Still, I'm not a doctor, so I can't do much to address it medically. I just try to keep my nails short, so I can't work them in under my skin (and then I miss doing it).
poster:Eddie Sylvano
thread:235679
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030619/msgs/236061.html