Nail Biters Anonymous

[Linda Rhaldeen]

Do you find yourself nervously chewing on your nails? Are your nails ragged and unsightly? Have you ever tried to stop your embarrassing habit, only to rebound and attack your nails with unrivaled ferocity? Have you ever stared longingly at someone else's luxurious nails and wished that you could have nails like that? Do you ever consiously conceal your hands from others, hoping they won't find out?

You are not alone. Many 667ers suffer from nail-biting just as you do. But together, through the help of Nail Biters Anonymous and the 12-step program, we can kick the habit together.

Edit: I hope these people don't kind being added to the roster. They're all the people who have already taken the first step by admitting they have a problem.
-J.
-Luis
-Deanna
-Linda
-Dupin
-Gretchen
-Kimia
-Freshie
-Pandora
-Triangle Eyes
-Phoenix

[Skeleton Key]

Hi I don't bite m y nails, but I obsessively tear my cuticles. Can I join?

[champ103]

I'm joining. [cries] This is a habit I have to break.

It's not even a habit anymore; it's a way of life. D:

[Linda Rhaldeen]

We all feel your pain, Dupin. It's ok. You can break this habit. We'll all break the habit, together.

And yes, you can join too, Gretchen. Yours is simply a more destructive form of the same habit.

[Skeleton Key]

Thanks. I really need to kick this. All my gloves are bloodstained.

[sloop]

*shudder* Nail biting is creepy and unnerveing. I never bite my nail unless it's broken. It's gross. My nails are generally long unless I remember to cut them because guitar fails with long fingernails but I get laazy.

[Linda Rhaldeen]

• Nail biting has no cure. Once a nail biter, always a nail biter. There is no way to make a "normal" biter out of a nail biter. Nor is there any way to make a non-nail biter into a nail biter . Nail biters who do not bite can recover and function in normal society, but should they bite again, their active nail biting will re-emerge quickly and be as debilitating as before. This is true even in cases where nail biters have avoided biting for many years before relapsing.
  
• Nail biting is a progressive illness. Over time, nail biters who continue to bite will get worse. Those who keep biting will often die from nail-related causes or be institutionalized (prison, hospital or asylum).
  
• The first bite does the damage. Once a nail biter begins biting, a powerful craving for more nail biting sets in. This makes moderation or controlled biting nearly impossible. Thus the N.B.A. approach of abstinence. Without the first bite, the craving cannot occur. Much of the N.B.A. program is intended to help the nail biter stay stopped, thereby preventing the compulsive biting cycle from starting.
  
• The desire to stop biting needs to come from the nail biter. This often happens as a result of the nail biter realizing that his or her life has become unmanageable and that excessive biting is the cause. N.B.A. members call this "hitting bottom" - a potentially life-changing moment when the nail biter perceives an urgent need for major personal change.
  
• A nail biter cannot recover on his or her own. A nail biter needs (or will benefit from) the fellowship of the NBA program. Contact with other nail biters provides an essential ingredient to the process of recovery. NBA meetings may be important, along with reading NBA materials and working the steps -- but it is working with other nail biters, helping and being helped, talking and interacting, that allow a nail biter to do what he or she cannot do alone -- stop biting.
  

For all you new members (which is everyone), the good people of Nail Biters Anonymous have given us some guidelines to help us fight our compulsive habits. Some of these are:

-Above all, avoid the first nail biting.
-Attend one or more meetings daily for 90 days or longer. Some people coming into N.B.A. have attended meetings daily for the first year. (hopefully it won't take that long, though)
-Contact with one's sponsor daily in order to work the steps and to discuss whatever problems one may be having in one's life, problems which may, if not addressed, lead the nail biter to bite their nails again "One [bite] is too many and one thousand [bites] never enough."
-Pay daily attention to Step 10: "Continue to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admit it."

[xangelkimzx]

I bite my cuticles, dear.

I have class.

[Linda Rhaldeen]

I'm glad to see you here, Kimia. Admitting you have a problem is the first step.

Now, I think we have enough members to start our first meeting. I'll start. Hi, I'm Linda, and I'm a nail biter.

[xangelkimzx]

Hi, I'm Kimia and I'm often found biting my cuticles.

[champ103]

Hi, I'm George, and I bite my nails. I've done it for years now. I haven't had to cut my nails in like ten years.

[Linda Rhaldeen]

It has been ten days since I last bit my nails. Whenever my nails get longer and I get the temptation to bite, I can usually get some nail clippers and cut them.

Actually, that might be a good idea. Here, I've taken the trouble of purchasing a set of nail clippers for each of us:


Carry it with you wherever you go.

[Skeleton Key]

Hi, I'm Gretchen. I obsessively tear my cuticles to bleeding point.

[Charles Vane]

This is hardly anonymous.

My nails look very nice even if I do bite them all the time.

[Freshie]

*sadly joins*