Am I Nuts? Compare Your Behavior: Comfort Habits

Comfort Habits Dear readers, thank you for sharing. After our first "Normal or Nuts?" article ran in April 2006, hundreds of you submitted the strange little things you do, and we can now say with confidence: You are one crazy bunch of cats. Some of you harbor irrational fears. Some have an overwrought sense of guilt; others, an overarching sense of privilege. You suffer from anxiety, calm, depression, elation, anger and love. But, of course, we all do, for we are all human, flawed and colorful in our own way. When you get right down to it, there's no such thing as "normal."

But we should distinguish between unusual behaviors we can tolerate and troublesome patterns we should try to fix. The line between quirk and crisis is very thin. To help us out, we presented your submissions to top psychiatrists and psychologists for analysis. So here, dear readers, is the professional assessment of just how nuts you are.

Question:
Why do I twirl my hair with one finger whenever I read? I never do this except when I'm reading. What's up with that?

Just be glad you don't have trichotillomania, the impulse to pull out your hair in clumps -- from your head, eyebrows and other fuzzy body parts. Your behavior is just a quirk, not harmful and probably quite helpful. Chances are you developed your bookish hair twirling as a body-language clue to people around you. What does your finger in your locks say? It says, "Leave me alone! I'm reading." According to Yale psychologist Marianne LaFrance, PhD, "Self-manipulation habits like hair twirling are a subtle message to others to stay away. If someone is constantly checking fingernails or tapping a toe, you get the idea she doesn't want to talk to you."

Question:
I'm 47, and I love to rub satin. As a child, I would rub the satin on my blanket while sucking my thumb. Now I carry a satin hankie with me everywhere, and I can rub it in my pocket. It always calms me down. Is that nuts?

Not at all, says Lori Perman, PsyD, a licensed therapist with a private practice in Santa Monica, California. "Most of us never outgrow the need for comfort -- we just get it in ways more 'adult' than dragging around a baby blankie like Linus." Indeed, if we didn't find ways to relax in this stressful world, we'd go nuts. And plenty of adults pursue unhealthy comforts such as smoking or overeating. A little private satin rubbing never hurt anyone.