Touch deprivation

I’d like to share my 2c on touch deprivation. ‘Touch starved’ is right but skin hunger is more so because imo the sensation originates from the skin itself, as if it’s an organ under stress, which then causes body craving (to alleviate it). The crave is desire to be touched but especially in a social way that has to do with affirmation and acceptance and support. Like touching back to back, leaning against each other. Touching shoes on the train. A hand on the forearm, oh my! The Japanese (of course the Japanese!) call this ‘skinship’ which surely is play on ‘kinship’. I think a fair analogy for this is the finger wave exchange when 2 drivers pass in the middle of a desert. It’s a kind of kinship. Not ‘all alone out here’, but you and me together; with the unspoken pact “if you were broken down, I’d stop to help”. And to carry this analogy through, maybe getting enough finger waves is the difference between driving back in your chair with arm out the window VS hunched up over the wheel, eyes darting left to right. And that’s what touch deprivation is: a type of stress that accumulates over time. As for cure, I think obviously sex would answer best of all and who doesn’t love a hug? But don’t underestimate the little things, the pat on the back, or an elbow nudge. I feel the solidarity behind such actions very very keenly - and it’s pure tonic. So my take home is that supportive touch is a genuine requirement of your skin, and btw it’s a 2 way thing, so when you give you’re getting back. And people will generally like it because it’s healthy. Win win win!!

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