Perionychophagia

As Perionychophagie the biting of which is fingernails surrounding skin called. Biting on its own without the skin separating is called perionymania . These terms were mainly coined by Mathias Hirsch based on trichotillophagia and trichotillomania . In the English-speaking world, the terms dermatophagia and dermatodaxia have become established, but they can also include areas of skin other than the cuticle.

Most often these phenomena occur together with onychophagia (nail biting). Perionychophagia is classified as self-calming or self-harming behavior. It is often either a symptom of stress or a mental health problem. Psychologists see perionychophagia not as a disease but as a symptom. In addition to habit reversal training , decoupling ( self-help measure ) has proven effective.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mathias Hirsch: Perionychomania and Perionychophagie or “habitual nail bed tearing” - on the psychodynamics of frequent self-harm behavior. In: Forum of Psychoanalysis . tape 7 , 1991, pp. 127-135 .
2. ↑ ^{a b} Steffen Moritz, Michael Rufer, Stella Schmotz: Recovery from pathological skin picking and dermatodaxia using a revised decoupling protocol . In: Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology . n / a, n / a, ISSN  1473-2165 , doi : 10.1111 / jocd.13378 ( wiley.com [accessed May 24, 2020]).
3. ^ ^{A b} Christian Eggers, Jörg M. Fegert, Franz Resch: Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of Childhood and Adolescence (German Edition) . Springer, 2004, ISBN 3-540-42916-6 , pp. 537 .
4. ↑ Anke Migula: Self-injurious behavior. Definitions, causes, characteristics . GRIN Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-640-26289-2 , pp. 5 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed August 20, 2010]).

This article is about a health issue. It is not used for self-diagnosis and does not replace a diagnosis by a doctor. Please note the information on health issues !