"== What about this theory? == 

  
 I'd like to comment on what I've researched on this topic. 

 There are medical conditions associated with nose picking. One is called rhinotillexomania, which is the compulsive picking of the nose, and can sometimes appear with trichotillomania, which is the compulsive plucking of hair or pulling the hair out of ones head, and can manifest in compulsively pulling hair from ones eyebrows, eyelashes, underarms, pubic region, beard, virtually anywhere one has hair. Other such compulsions include skin picking or cutting, eating, nail biting, the list goes on.  Compulsivity can be related to psychological disorders such as borderline personality disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. Generally people who have such compulsions also experience excessive anxiety and distorted or poor self image and can be prone to suicide. People (including children) with these compulsions also report often feeling worried.  

 Suggested treatment is behavioural therapy [Habit Reversal Training (HRT) and Stimulus Control (SC)] combined with SSRI drugs. Because such compulsions respond well to anti-depressant medications, it is fair to assume there is a neurochemical cause. 

 This is just my research on the topic. I'm not a psychologist or any such professionally accredited person, I just read what I could find on the subject, and it's far from a complete synopsis of OCD. If you happen to suffer from this disorder you are far from being the only one, and I'd encourage you to speak to your doctor or a counsellor about this treatable problem. There is lots of info on the net if you need to learn more before you can come forward and help yourself. 

 Mate- that is absolute rubbish.  I know a lot of people who pick their noses habitually and they do not have these disorders.  You sound like a pyschologist with your half-arsed pyscho-analysis.  This isn't an article for scaremongering and pseudo-pyschology.  Stick to the day job.  

 I agree. Almost no one will want to know that, you idiot! 

 This is silly. Let's keep it!  

 : I WAS KIDDING!!! (see ) I was kidding! nooooo (wail of anguish). what the heck. let's keep it.  

 ::I was kidding too (except about the this is silly part). Should we delete the entire article, or what?  

 : well, it covers the subject in a serious manner, with medical links. I'd like to know where the quotations come from.  

 ::Two of the quotations came from well-known folklore and the third, about the furniture, came from a book of ironic aphorisms by a gentleman named Van Lane Ferguson.  Another from that book:  ""If you don't believe you exist, smell under your arms.""   

 :::A kind correspondent has reminded me that the book is called We Bark at Midnight by Van Lane Ferguson, published by Tuttle.  This talk page is evidently the only place on the www you can find this out.    

 :::: Aoooooooooooooooooouw! Put the quotations back in!  11:43 20 December 2002 (UTC) 

 :::Another quote he sent me, ""I guess being an ordinary, everyday Alabama commonlaw wife just wasn't good enough for Edna.""  The quote that was censored from the article by a humorless square was, ""I know he picks his nose.  I felt under his furniture.""  The other two square-censored quotes, not from the book, were, ""How did you know I went to Harvard?""  ""I noticed your class ring when you picked your nose.""  And, ""You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose.""   

 :::: I vote for restoring the censored quotes.  They were refreshing and entertaining and interesting.  There's nothing wrong with an encyclopedia that has a bit of panache and cheek to it.  Having serious information is one thing, but being dry and dull is another.  I may just restore those quotes myself.  

 ::This isn't the most serious entry in the Wikipedia, but this is the first time I've been banned to bad jokes, etc.  I put those quotes in, not entirely tongue in cheek, because I thought they gave an indication of the attitudes against nose-picking that society has.  Some people have no sense of humor, which, I maintain, is a genuine sense that helps us analyze and understand.  

 LOL. Thanks for the laugh!  

  
 :: If they're real quotations, put them back in with the srouces!   

 ::I don't understand the concept of ""real quotations"".  Two of them were very common well-known jokes that I have heard and