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Nail Biting Intervention can break habits

Intervention can break habits.
(Three-Session Program - Brief Article)

Heidi Splete. Clinical Psychiatry News. March 2003 v31 i3 p69(1).
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2003 International Medical News Group

Habit reversal intervention helps patients break the cycle of body-focused repetitive behaviors, reported Michael P. Twohig of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and his colleagues.

In a randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled study, chronic nail biting adults (mean age of 21.5 years) who participated in a three-session habit reversal intervention program (2 hours of total treatment time) increased their average nail length by 22% from baseline, compared with an average increase of 3% among patients in a placebo group (J. Clin. Psychiatry 64[1]:40-48, 2003).

The habit reversal intervention--which includes awareness training, competing response training, and social support, was significantly more effective than placebo in increasing nail length.

But the intervention, which has been effective in treating body-focused behaviors such as skin picking, oral-digital habits, and chewing on one's own skin, was not more effective than placebo in improving the psychological conditions accompanying the nail biting.

However, such a study is needed for habit reversal therapy to be considered a "well-established" intervention, the investigators said.

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