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Topic: Quick! Someone tell 'Lij! (Read 1950 times)
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Aisling
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Quick! Someone tell 'Lij!
« on: September 09, 2007, 08:44:28 am »
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A Dutchman says he's found a cure for nail-biting: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070908/ap_on_he_me/nail_biting_8;_ylt=AltaTaK_yP8PkrifXiwhGo0E1vAI
Quote:VENLO, Netherlands - Do you find your fingers drifting into your mouth when you're nervous, anxious or just bored? Are your nails chewed to splinters or your cuticles gnawed to bleeding pulp? Nail biting is more than a bad habit. Doctors say it is one of the most common symptoms of stress or of an obsessive-compulsive disorder, especially for teenagers or younger children, and can lead to disfigurement and serious infection.
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Alain-Raymond van Abbe, a former health industry and cosmetics promoter, estimates the world's pathological nail biters number 600 million or more. He saw that onychophagy was so widespread that he has opened a business devoted to a cure.
"In four weeks, nail biting can be over — and over forever," he says.
Studies show around 45 percent of adolescents nibble their nails. That drops to about 20 percent as young adults learn to cope with their anxieties or become too embarrassed by their self-inflicted deformity.
In public, compulsive biters typically keep their hands out of sight as much as they can, buried in their pockets or behind their backs. They often feel depressed and shamed, and avoid social contacts. Van Abbe says his clients suffer so much from the stigma that none would volunteer to be interviewed or photographed.
He calculates Holland alone has 2 million chronic sufferers, enough to keep his enterprise busy and profitable. He charges up to $670 for a course of treatment.
Van Abbe, whose field is marketing rather than medicine, describes himself as a problem solver.
His treatment relies on a tooth guard molded to fit either the upper or lower teeth. Barely visible, the "preventer" makes it impossible to bite, but can be removed for eating.
"After four weeks, the impulse disturbance is so frustrated that it is controlled. You don't have any problem any more," he said.
After developing his solution over two years and working with about 150 pilot customers, Van Abbe refitted a gabled brick house in Venlo, near the German border, with reclining leather manicurists' chairs where cosmeticians can begin reviving damaged finger and toe nails.
Yes, some of his clients habitually bite their toe nails, including one man in his 40s, Van Abbe said. "If you start young, you stay flexible."
Nail biting is one of a category of obsessive-compulsive disorders known as Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors that is gaining more scientific attention. Others include hair pulling, skin picking or incessantly biting the inside of the cheek.
Lawrence S. Micheletti, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Medical Branch, says most research on nail biting focuses on the psychological stress and on the therapies that treat the source of the problem.
But there also is a chicken-and-egg factor, because the ugly result of self-mutilation heightens anxiety. "If you cure the symptom, you reduce the stress, and the person is a happier person," Micheletti said in a telephone interview.
Micheletti, who works with many adolescents in stress management, says nail biting is one of the most common symptoms he sees among his patients.
He said Van Abbe appeared to have developed "a plausible approach" since, in clinical terms, the treatment involves both cognitive and behavioral aspects. But he wonders about Van Abbe's business model.
"I never thought of opening a clinic just for nail biters," he said. "I wouldn't want to rely just on nail biters to make my living." |
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Cold late night so long ago
When I was not so strong you know
A pretty man came to me
Never seen eyes so blue...
-- Heart, "Magic Man"
A girl can dream, right? 
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miss sixty
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Re:Quick! Someone tell 'Lij!
« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2007, 09:57:36 am »
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this is interesting to read Aisling thanks for posting and yes someone should tell Elijah 
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m
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Re:Quick! Someone tell 'Lij!
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2007, 10:43:11 am »
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That is pretty interesting...I'm a nail-biter myself, but I don't think just a piece of plastic over my teeth would stop me!
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Deenan (O.L.C.)
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Re:Quick! Someone tell 'Lij!
« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2007, 01:24:49 pm »
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that's so funny! i just read the same article and thought about elijah. 
Quote:| "...His treatment relies on a tooth guard molded to fit either the upper or lower teeth. Barely visible, the "preventer" makes it impossible to bite, but can be removed for eating. |
that seems impossible for a chronic nail-bitter. if it can be removed for eating, then it can be removed for biting nails. i guess it would take will power.
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Aisling
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Re:Quick! Someone tell 'Lij!
« Reply #5 on: September 10, 2007, 07:18:42 am »
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Growing up in a one-parent home is always stressful. I know. Plus, being a child actor has to have its own kind of stress.
I didn't bite my nails -- I tore them off -- but I did bite the skin around them. I eventually outgrew that.
Now I have braces (yeah, at 42) and I can't bite anything. 
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Cold late night so long ago
When I was not so strong you know
A pretty man came to me
Never seen eyes so blue...
-- Heart, "Magic Man"
A girl can dream, right?
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*Skydreamer*
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Re:Quick! Someone tell 'Lij!
« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2007, 08:30:36 am »
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This is interesting news.Thanks for posting.Maybe,it is a solution for ELIJAH and me.Sounds good ...
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*** WE COULD BE THE SAME ! No matter what they sayyy ! ... ***
~~ maNga and FERMAN Lover Forever ! <3 ~~
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m
Be yourself. Let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.
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Re:Quick! Someone tell 'Lij!
« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2007, 12:42:00 pm »
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Quote from: Aisling on September 10, 2007, 07:18:42 am
Growing up in a one-parent home is always stressful. I know. Plus, being a child actor has to have its own kind of stress.
I did bite the skin around them.
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I did that too! Pretty disgusting, I know.
Interesting point about the stress. Personally, I'm not under much stress at all, and nail-biting for me is simply something to do with my hands when I'm bored.
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Aisling
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Re:Quick! Someone tell 'Lij!
« Reply #8 on: September 15, 2007, 11:14:08 am »
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Quote from: Aisling on September 10, 2007, 07:18:42 am
Growing up in a one-parent home is always stressful. I know. Plus, being a child actor has to have its own kind of stress.
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Disclaimer: I did grow up in a one-parent home, but I was not a child actor.
And it's nice to know I wasn't the only weirdo who bit the skin around her nails, but that's one thing I'd prefer not to have in common with someone else. *giggle*
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Cold late night so long ago
When I was not so strong you know
A pretty man came to me
Never seen eyes so blue...
-- Heart, "Magic Man"
A girl can dream, right?
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m
Be yourself. Let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.
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Re:Quick! Someone tell 'Lij!
« Reply #9 on: September 16, 2007, 04:31:31 am »
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Are you calling me a wierdo Aisling?!
This bit of plastic sounds a little bit like a retainer that people wear on their teeth after they've had braces. It comes out pretty easily.
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miss sixty
I float away into the clouds as I am a born daydreamer.
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Re:Quick! Someone tell 'Lij!
« Reply #10 on: September 16, 2007, 07:22:50 am »
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I used to bite my nails but not for long it was sucking my thumb that I did most until my mum put some witch hazel on it so it didnt taste nice, that soon stopped me, lol.
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*Skydreamer*
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Re:Quick! Someone tell 'Lij!
« Reply #11 on: September 16, 2007, 07:53:44 am »
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Quote from: wild kiwi on September 16, 2007, 07:22:50 am
I used to bite my nails but not for long it was sucking my thumb that I did most until my mum put some witch hazel on it so it didnt taste nice, that soon stopped me, lol.
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I know that way for stopping nail biting,Elizabeth ! They don't taste nice really !
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*** WE COULD BE THE SAME ! No matter what they sayyy ! ... ***
~~ maNga and FERMAN Lover Forever ! <3 ~~
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Aisling
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Re:Quick! Someone tell 'Lij!
« Reply #12 on: September 16, 2007, 10:10:30 am »
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Quote from: maryd on September 16, 2007, 04:31:31 am
Are you calling me a wierdo Aisling?! |
I'm a weirdo too, remember?
My little sister and I both had stress-related problems -- I had a constant hacking cough, and she could only eat a little bit before feeling sick. These problems went away when we left her abusive father (my stepfather).
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Cold late night so long ago
When I was not so strong you know
A pretty man came to me
Never seen eyes so blue...
-- Heart, "Magic Man"
A girl can dream, right?
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Valkyrie
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Re:Quick! Someone tell 'Lij!
« Reply #13 on: April 04, 2008, 12:07:07 pm »
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Maybe it makes me a wierdo but I don't mind that he bites his nails. It gives him character. It's the little so called "imperfections" that bring out the beauty of what is perfect.
I don't know, it's like when someone is making a sculpture they say...It's not the stone or clay, it's the empty space that makes it a sculpture.
If you have a vase you want to display, you puit it on a plain black background. Too show it off.
I think the nail biting thing makes him seem sort of vulnerable I guess. More human.
It gives him depth and contrast. It's one of the reasons why I think he is beautiful.
Sorry. Just having an "Elijah" moment.
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Go blonde along with me..the best is yet to be.
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LijEyesHaveIt
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Re:Quick! Someone tell 'Lij!
« Reply #14 on: April 04, 2008, 04:22:31 pm »
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I was a pacifier baby. Does any body remember his interview on Ellen when he stated that he bites his toenails?
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-Taffy
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