Only relatively recently have medical experts labelled this condition – known as dermatophagia (compulsive biting and gnawing of the skin on the fingers and hands) – as a body-focused repetitive behaviour (BFRB). Before writing this article, I had no idea that this behaviour had a name, let alone that it shares some psychological features with obsessive compulsive disorder.

I’m not the only one whose childhood habit has transformed into an inbuilt response to anxiety. In many cases, says psychotherapist and Counselling Directory member Clare Patterson, nail-biting starts as something fairly innocuous but later becomes an in-built habit.

“As the act can feel good or satisfying, we are likely to repeat it,” she explains. We do it again, and before we realise it, a habit has formed, which needs active intervention to break. Many of us bite our nails when bored or anxious, as a way to ‘self-soothe’ or distract ourselves from racing or negative thoughts. A calm and uncluttered mind is really what many nail-biters are seeking with their behaviour. ‘Tidying’ their nails may feel like an easy way to achieve this.”

“I used to bite my nails until they bled, so I tried 4 treatments – this was the most effective”