“Rhinotillexomania: Psychiatric Disorder or Habit?”, 1995-02 (; similar):
Background: Conditions once considered bad habits are now recognized as psychiatric disorders (trichotillomania, onychopagia). We hypothesized that nose picking is another such “habit”, a common benign practice in most adults but a time-consuming, socially compromising, or physically harmful condition (rhinotillexomania) in some.
Method: We developed the Rhinotillexomania Questionnaire, mailed it to 1,000 randomly selected adult residents of Dane County, Wisconsin, and requested anonymous responses. The returned questionnaires were analyzed according to age, sex, marital status, living arrangement, and educational level. Nose picking was characterized according to time involved, level of distress, location, attitudes toward self and others regarding the practice, technique, methods of disposal, reasons, complications, and associated habits and psychiatric disorders.
Results: 254 subjects responded. 91% were current nose pickers although only 49.2% felt it was common among adults and only 75% felt “almost everyone does it”; 1.2% picked at least every hour…The amount of personal distress caused by nose picking was “mild to none” in all respondents, but 4.6% (n = 11⁄239) felt that their nose picking was “very disturbing” to others…For 2 subjects (0.8%), nose picking caused moderate to marked interferences with daily functioning. 2 subjects spent 15–30 minutes and 1 over 2 hours a day picking their nose. For 2 others, perforation of the nasal septum was a complication. Associated “habits” included picking cuticles (25%), picking at skin (20%), biting fingernails (18%), and pulling out hair (6%).
Conclusion: This first population survey of nose picking suggests that it is an almost universal practice in adults but one that should not be considered pathologic for most. For some, however, the condition may meet criteria for a disorder—rhinotillexomania.
…43% acknowledged some public picking, but only 4.2% made no effort to avoid being seen. The most common public settings were automobiles and office.
Tolerance of public nose picking was related to age of the picker with 2⁄3rds of the respondents not being disturbed by a child under the age of 6 but well over 2⁄3rds being upset by teenagers, adults, and the elderly picking in public.
Public pickers were felt to be socially unskilled by 59.2% of respondents, while only 3.8% held this opinion about private pickers. Nose picking in public was considered a sign of mental illness by only 1.7% of respondents