Re: I have a habbit of banging my head to the pillow-why do I do that?

Hello -
Thank-you for your interesting question.  Please note that from 
a professional/ethical point of view it is not appropriate for me to 
"diagnose" your condition over the Internet. In a related manner, you left 
out some critical information which is central to your question. For 
example, when and how often do you engage in this behavior? How does it make 
you feel? Does it interfere with your normal functioning and so on.  If this 
behavior is distressing for you, I would highly recommend that you seek some 
professional help. 

Generally speaking, the type of behavior you describe can be related to 
several known conditions. The first is self-abusive behavior. This tends to 
be most common in individuals who have mental disorders such as autism or 
mental retardation, or women who have a condition known as borderline 
personality disorder.   For example, head banging, which can sometimes cause 
some pretty extensive physical damage is seem in both autism and mental 
retardation. Many women and some men who have a borderline personality 
disorder engage in self-abusive or self-mutilating behaviors such as cutting 
themselves with a razor, or sticking sharp objects into parts of their 
bodies.  However,  my guess is that none of these conditions is related with 
the behavior that you describe.

The other condition which is consistent with your description is something 
known as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).  Here a person is plagued with 
intrusive and recurring thoughts or images in the mind which appear to be 
irrational and to some extent uncontrollable. Going along with these 
obsessions are compulsions to engage in a repetitive behavior or mental act 
whose purpose is usually to reduce the distress caused by the thoughts or to 
prevent some calamity from occurring. For example,  some common obsessions 
are that you left the cooking stove on or your door unlocked. The behaviors 
accompanying these obsessions could be to repeatedly  check your stove to 
make sure that the gas is turned off or repeatedly check your doors to make 
sure they are locked.   OCD can be very distressful and usually results in 
some marked impairments in social or occupational functioning.  Again, I do 
not have enough information is say that your behavior is related to OCD, but 
my feeling is that it is not.

Another (and probably the most likely) condition for your behavior is that 
it is simply a nervous habit that you developed over the years. It may have 
been accidentally conditioned similar to other habits or superstitious 
behaviors. For example, some people who play sports carry around with them 
some object that they just happened to have with them on a particular day 
when they performed exceptionally well and now believe that they must have 
that object every time they perform.  Your behavior may have been similarly 
conditioned and now it has become a habit or routine. 

Again, I am sorry that I cannot be more specific for your particular 
condition. I have listed a number of internet sites below which you may find 
useful or interesting. 
 
http://www.tamiu.edu/coah/psy/psycholo1.htm 

http://www.athealth.com/Consumer/Disorders/Disorders.html 
http://mel.lib.mi.us/health/health-mental.html  

http://www.cyberpsych.org/index.html 

http://content.health.msn.com/content/article/1728.60732 
http://www.start-to-stop.com/ 

http://www.motivationmaster.com/habits.htm