Dwelling in New York Metropolis, I often see native information headlines and listen to tales from buddies of buddies concerning the horrors of mattress bugs. Though I’ve but to face the nightmarish ordeal myself, I do have the identical disagreeable expertise every time the subject comes up: a sudden overwhelming itching sensation on my pores and skin.
I do know I’m not alone. Apparently it’s not unusual to really feel the urge to scratch while you discuss or take into consideration bugs. And actually, there are even phrases to explain this particular phenomenon.
So why precisely do conversations or ideas about creepy crawly critters trigger an itching sensation, even within the absence of any precise bugs? And is there something you are able to do about this phenomenon? HuffPost requested some specialists to interrupt it down.
What’s occurring in our brains and our bodies once we discuss or take into consideration bugs?
“The brain doesn’t just process reality ― it constructs it,” Dr. Shaheen E. Lakhan, a board-certified neurologist, instructed HuffPost. “When you hear about bugs crawling on someone’s scalp or imagine bedbugs in a mattress, your brain activates the same neural circuits as if it were happening to you. This is called ‘contagious itch,’ and it’s driven by a blend of somatosensory activation, emotional processing and mirror neuron activity.”
He defined that our brains can generate sensations even when there’s no bodily stimulus, so a bug doesn’t should be crawling in your pores and skin so that you can really feel an itch. As a substitute, you may course of a visible enter (e.g., seeing another person scratch) or auditory cue (listening to about bugs), or it may even be purely cognitive, like while you think about bedbugs.
“When you hear about bugs on someone’s scalp, your brain doesn’t just register the words,” Lakhan stated. “It activates the somatosensory cortex, the part of the brain responsible for processing bodily sensations like touch, temperature and pain. This activation occurs as if there were actual bugs on your scalp. It’s a ‘simulated’ somatosensory experience, demonstrating that the brain can generate these feelings internally, independent of direct external stimulation.”
The phenomenon could be understood as a type of top-down processing, wherein the mind’s higher-level cognitive and emotional capabilities ― like reminiscences and different prior data and expertise ― influences sensory notion. (That is in distinction to bottom-up processing, wherein the mind takes in fundamental sensory particulars to construct larger stage understanding.)
Psychologists have additionally used the phrases psychogenic itching, psychogenic formication and psychogenic pruritus to explain itchy sensations with no bodily trigger, although these phrases appear to come back up in additional frequent and severe psychiatric circumstances, somewhat than the occasional urge to scratch when considering of bugs. With contagious itch, feelings are actually at play as properly although.
“The thought of bugs can evoke feelings of disgust, anxiety, or unease,” Lakhan stated. “The amygdala and other limbic structures involved in emotional processing are highly active during these experiences. These emotional responses amplify the perceived itch and make it more salient. It’s not just ‘I feel something,’ but ‘I feel something unpleasant.’ This highlights how emotions are deeply intertwined with our sensory perceptions and can even shape them.”
There will also be a side of connecting with different individuals, due to particular cells generally known as “mirror neurons.” These neurons hearth when somebody performs an motion but additionally after they observe one other performing that motion.
“In the context of contagious itch, when you see someone scratching, your mirror neurons fire as if you were scratching,” Lakhan defined. “This neural mirroring contributes to our ability to empathize and understand the actions and intentions of others. For contagious itch, this mirroring extends to the sensation itself. By activating the same neural pathways that would be engaged by actual scratching, mirror neurons contribute to the feeling of itchiness in the observer, effectively creating a shared, vicarious experience.”
Why do our brains do that?
Simply as bugs crawling on our pores and skin prompts us to scratch and get them off, the mere thought or dialogue of this risk can activate that bug-scratching intuition.
“Whether there’s a real bug or an imaginary bug, the response from your brain is almost the same, and this process is in place from an evolutionary perspective to protect us, because bugs can be contagious, they can bite us, they can create problems,” stated neuroscientist Friederike Fabritius. “So it’s just safer for us to act, even if we only imagine a bug.”
She emphasised that our mind networks err on the facet of warning to maintain us protected from hurt, which was maybe extra obligatory in earlier eras of humanity earlier than trendy drugs, infrastructure and data round threats like sure bugs.
“Essentially, the itch you feel is your brain’s overzealous attempt to protect you, whether or not there’s a real threat,” echoed Lakhan. “For example, if you’re watching a documentary on lice infestation, your scalp might start tingling even though you’re clean and clear. Your brain is trying to be proactive, like a smoke alarm going off because it might smell smoke. This kind of false positive was useful in our evolutionary past, where being too cautious about insects could protect you from disease and parasites.”
Nowadays, the sort of itching sensation could be a double-edged sword.
“On the beneficial side, it reflects a brain that is highly attuned to threats, which in certain contexts is protective,” Lakhan stated. “For instance, public health campaigns about lice or scabies outbreaks in schools may provoke discomfort, but that discomfort motivates inspection and early treatment, good for containment. But when it becomes problematic, it can contribute to or exacerbate psychiatric conditions.”
Does it occur to everybody?
Not everybody experiences the urge to itch after they suppose or speak about bugs.
“Some people are more anxious and more hyper vigilant than others,” Fabritius stated. “So if you’re stressed or nervous or anxious, you’re more likely to experience phantom bug itching.”
Somebody who’s hypervigilant and simply startled is likely to be extra liable to feeling itchy on the considered bugs. The identical goes for these with excessive ranges of empathy and/or heightened interoception (sensitivity to bodily sensations), Lakhan famous.
“If you’re the kind of person who instinctively checks your legs after hearing about ticks on a hike, your brain’s internal radar is especially sensitive,” he stated. “It can even spread socially. In group settings, hearing one person describe an itch or infestation can trigger a ripple effect, like a yawn, but more unsettling. There’s even research showing that patients in dermatology clinics sometimes develop phantom itching after hearing others describe their symptoms in detail.”
Is there any method to forestall or cease this sensation?
Feeling itchy when the subject of bugs comes up could be greater than only a minor nuisance.
“Even in everyday life, too much attention to phantom itching can lead to skin lesions from scratching, heightened anxiety and sleep disturbance,” Lakhan stated, including that folks with psychological well being circumstances like delusional parasitosis are notably liable to hurt.
There are methods to probably forestall or deal with contagious itch within the second, nonetheless.
“It starts with recognizing that the sensation is coming from your brain, not your body,” Lakhan stated. “That alone gives you power over it. Try cognitive reframing. Remind yourself that this is a brain glitch, not a real infestation.”
He really helpful methods like grounding workouts wherein you deal with the stress of your toes on the ground, the feel of your clothes or the rest that shifts your consideration from imagined sensations to precise sensations. Sensory redirection is another choice.
“Do something tactile, like running your hands under cold water or grabbing an object with texture, like a stress ball or beaded bracelet,” Lakhan suggested. “You’re basically giving your brain a new signal to process. In clinical settings, we even use these non-pharmacological techniques with patients who experience medically unexplained itching. Once they understand the brain’s role, the itch often loses its grip.”
It takes psychological work to beat entrenched instincts, notably these stemming from evolutionary psychology.
“Usually these kind of networks, like fear of spiders or fear of snakes or fear of bugs, are pretty robust,” Fabritius stated. “What you can do is practice to relax more so that you’re less hyper vigilant, so you can try to activate your parasympathetic system with some deep breathing, or you could overall reduce your stress levels.”
She additionally prompt taking an method that will really feel notably counterintuitive to these with discomfort round bugs.
“I also think that if you have overall more exposure to bugs and itchy creatures, your reaction level will go down, since your body kind of learns to relax in the presence of bugs,” Fabritius stated. “There’s something called exposure to the stimulus that triggers the phobia, so you can actually learn to actively relax in the presence of bugs.”
