Thus, one would think that sucking one’s thumb is just a normal thing. To create such a truly amazing article, I read your blog every day and give me for that announcement here this article is too great and very entertaining thanks. A loving relationship can be an oasis in uncertain times, but nurturing it requires attention, honesty, openness, vulnerability, and gratitude. However, it can also be done and accomplished with the use of any piece of skin that is within one’s reach. Or is it just a habit? July 2012. That is why thumb sucking prevention becomes necessary. Thus, it is not a behavior purely based on instinct. Friman, P. C. (1987). Turning a Vice Into a Virtue Through Healthy Self-Soothing. She also tells me that her upper mouth palate has also changed shape and her thumb fits perfectly into the upper groove in her mouth. Martin Seligman: The New Era of Positive Psychology, How To Leave An Emotionally Abusive Relationship, The Ability To Move Things With Your Mind, How To Tell Is Someone Is Lying About Cheating. The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly. By the time a child is 4 or 5, with the habit no longer socially appropriate and permanent teeth coming shortly, the risks of continuing to thumb or finger suck clearly outweigh the benefits…When does a bad habit qualify as an addiction? Usually it's a function of how much the habit has become physiologically essential so that people feel craving when it is missing. A 2008 literature review by Orlando Tanaka and colleagues in the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics reported some evidence that thumb sucking might turn into nail biting. Thumb sucking in a child less than 2 years of age requires no treatment. Unscientific estimates have it occurring in from 3-7% of the U.S. adult population, based on unscientific surveys and data gleaned from participation in online discussions over the years. & Lynch, C. (2004). & Guerrero, & Camargoe, E.S. A person with low confidence does things like thumb sucking, leg shaking, nail biting, excessive blinking, teeth grinding, etc. Most parents reading this will be aware that thumb sucking tends to emerge in infancy (although there is some evidence that babies can suck their thumbs inside the womb. Hepper, P., Wells, D.L. Honzik, M.P. Individuals do this because of its therapeutic and soothing effect. Located at: http://www.articles2day.org/2012/07/tic-disorder-and-thumb-sucking-other.html, Batista, E. (2012). American Family Physician, 44, 1724-1728. Tanaka, O.M., Vitral, R.W.F., Tanaka, G.Y., Pulido A. References Articles 2day (2012). She’s now in her 40s and has two completely different shaped thumbs (one ‘normal’ and the other flat and very elongated) as a result of four decades of constant thumb sucking. It can be related to how a child develops their favorite hand they use in writing. I have to admit that adult thumb sucking is something I have often thought about as someone I know well has sucked her right thumb all her life. During her junior years and early adolescence, her parents tried to get her to stop, and at one point she was given a substance to coat her thumb in (which tasted disgusting when she put her thumb in her mouth). If you are going to take a look at your family’s photo albums, it is natural that you would at least see a couple of pictures that show you sucking your thumb. Located at: http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/it-happened-me-i-was-adult-thumbsucker. Feelings and Their Medical Significance, 29, 11-14. This might explain why there is such a seemingly low prevalence of thumb sucking in adults. It's similar to folding one's legs, comfort wise (and usually done without much thought), except for the social definitions. By David Webb, Copyright © 2008-2020 All-About-Psychology.Com. However, as a child grows older, it is when it slowly develops as a habit. However, in psychology, thumb sucking has another meaning. The Compendium of Continuing Education, 4, 575–579. Located at: http://www.edbatista.com/2012/01/adult-thumb-sucking.html. The longer the child performs the habit, the more possible it is for them to have their favorite finger that they could suck. Heitler, S. (2012). Tic disorder and thumb sucking. August 2. He also claimed that childish actions like thumb sucking and objects like cuddly toys are a source of manifold adult behavior. As mentioned, thumb sucking is a common habit for both babies and toddlers. Basically, the older one gets, the more of a problem thumb sucking is from a medical perspective. Thumb sucking in childhood. Constant thumb sucking is not necessarily problematic but depending on how the thumb is sucked, it can cause protruding teeth and other dental problems such as anterior open bite, malocclusion (i.e., misalignment of teeth or incorrect relation between the teeth of the two dental arches), and mucosal trauma. It didn’t work. She also has a number of little routines she performs while sucking her thumb including the caressing of her eyelashes with her right index finger which, during thumb sucking, is close to her eyes. (1991). However, the thumb sucking psychology is not all about its usefulness. (2012). As one review of thumb sucking in the American Family Physician journal concluded: “Major complications of thumb sucking, usually corrects spontaneously if thumb sucking ceases by 6 years of age. It is also claimed (particularly by psychodynamic psychologists) that such actions stem back to childhood trauma and that behaviors like thumb sucking help facilitate the need to feel comforted and secure. To explain the thumb sucking psychology relating to young children, it is a reflex action they do to sooth their selves.