The methods for treating this habit for a child will be different from those for an adult. Where a gentle scolding may soon make a child stop nail biting, this solution clearly will not work to help an adult.

In almost all cases of this adulthood problem, the root cause is anxiousness. Due to this, stress management can be an extremely efficient way of curing the problem. It is important to examine the kinds of situations that make a person bite their nails. This means that a conscious effort must be made throughout the day for a couple of weeks to analyze the stresses in a person’s life and find out what situations exacerbate the habit. When this has been determined, stress relief techniques can be used. These include simple things, such as counting to 10 and taking yourself out of a stressful situation (at least temporarily), to performing daily stress relief techniques. The daily techniques can include anything from yoga to hypnosis tapes.

Another solution, which actually works for many children, can still work for adults. The technical name for this solution is aversion therapy; and what this basically means is that an unpleasant experience should be associated with any unwanted habits. In this situation, what this means is that, by coating your fingernails in an unpleasant tasting solution (which are available on the market specifically for this purpose), every time you bite your nails, you will taste this solution, which by design is unpleasant to taste. Therefore, this can be an extremely effective way to help stop nail biting, as after a few weeks of wearing this on your nails, biting them will be much less appealing.