... thing that seems to stop the tension building and I don't allow myself to bite my fingers, only my arms and sometimes hand where I am less likely to bleed. I've only broken the skin once years ago on my hand (and that was very minor), and sometimes the skin will get a little red and irritated but other than that the indent disapears within minutes and is replaced by a red mark that lasts maybe a hour or so. So no real lasting damage but is it still bad that I'm doing it and if so, why? Is it something I should be seeking help for or is it a kind of problem thats bad but no so bad - so a deal with it in your own time problem?

I have a good memory and a analytical mind, so my mind will at the end of the day go over everything thats happened and analyse it down to tone of voice used and individual words. Then say 'you shouldn't have done that', 'you should have done this' 'did this mean this or this', etc. The tension builds up and biting down for a few seconds seems to be the only thing that will stop or at least calm down the analysing. I'll usually bite down maybe two times an hour for a few times then the tension usually stays low enough to think. This doesn't happen all the time, only when I have a stressful day along with other stresses to add to it. In fact before tonight I haven't done it in over a year at least I think.