Re: nail biting and picking

Posted By michele on June 29, 1999 at 07:48:54
I have an eight year old daughter who was born with complex heart defects. She underwent five heart surguries in the first five years of her life. She has had a good result with a completed fontan and has a near normal activity level. She is in the second grade and doing well.She has lots of friends. My concern is her nail biting and skin pulling. She will bite nails and pull off hang nails until they bleed(and look very sore). She also picks at any bug bites or scabs from cuts until they bleed. BY the end of summer she will be covered in bandaids. I am very worried about the risk of infection but more so about the problem this might represent. Is this common with children who have experienced prolonged hospitalization? What can I do about this?? Should we seek professioal help?? Appreciate any info you have to offer.

[HVM Ph.D. - KDK]

Posted By HVM Ph.D. - KDK on June 29, 1999 at 10:50:13
Dear Michele,
The behaviors your daughter demonstrates have no general association with hospitalization during the pre-school years. However, nail-biting and scab-picking are often symptomatic of anxiety, and in any particular child the anxiety may be related to their own personal experiences, such as prolonged and frequent separations from parents during hospital stays and the distress prompted by the medical procedures themselves.
It is likely that your daughter's behaviors are compulsive habits, and that they are related to stress and/or anxiety. It would be sensible to schedule an evaluation by a pediatric mental health professional. Such conditions as Impulse Control Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder would need to be considered in such an evaluation before it would be clear that the behaviors represent compulsive habits.










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