Psychogenic Itching?

I've been having issues for a few years now with an itchy feeling. I itch everywhere, its not in one place, its all over my body. I mostly do not notice when I do it but when I do i notice it tends to be on my head. Like on top or wherever on my head. Although other places I do get the itchy feeling is on my chest and such.

So, I tried looking up a lot things to see where it could be coming from. At first I thought it was my medication and there was one that caused that but i've been off of it for for a month or more and I still have the itchy feeling. Its not severe, though. Then I came across the word psychogenic itching. It says it happens with people who have mental disturbances such as depression or even schizophrenia. I have schizoaffective disorder.

I remember seeing videos or case studies in a psych class i took a year go about people with schizophrenia and a lot of them, i guess the more severe cases that I saw, anyway, they would constantly itch themselves. Mostly on their heads...hm, but my question is, regarding me and this term, Could I maybe be experiencing psychogenic itching due to my illness? I do have the feeling of bugs on my skin which make me itch but I also itch when I dont think theres anything on me.

onetwentysix wrote:Could I maybe be experiencing psychogenic itching due to my illness?

What 'illness' do you have? - You didn't actually mention that you have any official illness. To be perfectly honest with ou, however, you don't seem to be schizophrenic. I think that you should look upon this as a physical condition first, before you start delving into the world of psychology to explain it. Go to your doctor, tell him/her the symptoms, and then take things from there. If he/she doesn't have a clue what's wrong, then get your ass back here!

Kevin

Chucky wrote:What 'illness' do you have? - You didn't actually mention that you have any official illness.

He said he has psychoaffective disorder.

Haha, well, in the second paragraph I wrote, I put I have schizoaffective disorder. I have done this unconciously for years now, but until now. I recognized that its not a severe, annoying itch yet its not a pleasurable itch either. Honestly i'm not too sure how to explain it.

Oh, sorry for missing that. I was focussing so much on the word 'psychogenic', that I missed the 'schizoaffective' part. Maybe your itch is just an itch and there is a very good explanation for having it, such as your skin is overly sensitive due to you being stressed/anxious, you having a minor allergic reaction to the material in your clothes, you have a skin condition, etc. There is a logical reason why you are 'itching'.

I should add that if any one of us focuses on our body, then we will realise that we itch a lot too. Most of us become insentive to it, however, and it does not bother. As I stop to think now, I have an itch on my knee, cheek, just above my lip, .., and there's a new one just started just under my eye. It is quite normal. Maybe you should focus on your other symptoms instead of the itching.

Kevin

Yea thats very true. I was just wondering about it all because I thought maybe it connected in someway with how I was feeling. Haha I dont know, thats why I asked. But, yes thank you for your responses.

I've had this problem for a while now and I never really thought to talk about it until now. When I'm having a "psychotic" episode or whatever you wanna call it, basically when I'm feeling weird and don't feel like talking, I get this sensation around my nose. It doesn't itch, but it feels like there's pressure there, almost numb, but in a bad way. The only way it goes away is if I rub my hand over it, and it comes right back. I can cause the sensation just by thinking about it. I've noticed when someone is talking to me and I get distracted and start thinking about something else, it appears. Anyone else?

I get the same thing, corresponding with psychosis. People often scratch their head when they are uncertain about something, it seems that when people tell a lie or fear that they might be unintentionally doing something incorrectly and feel a small amount of guilt, the rate of blood flow through certain vessels changes and it causes itching. What I experience as a result of psychosis seems to be a much more exaggerated version that takes on it's whole own nature associated with psychosis, that is quite different to the normal kind of uncertainty scratching. The closest thing to a coping mechanism has been to switch my brain around a lot, by which I mean rotating between different activities. Using the brain the way you use your body during mindless excercise (and in cycles, ppl with schizohprenia seem to have problems with melatonin). As a schizophrenic I sometimes forget that my brain is just like any other part of the body, as if i thought "good" thought required some deliberate action on my part rather than simple inane human righteousness, like people experience when they wash their hands, go for a run, rather than constantly trying to change knee jerk reactions before they happen almost superstitiously. Sometimes it seems to be brought on by excess stimulus of non-important visual cues that I sometimes get when I'm not performing an actual activity or striving to achieve the kind of normal goals you might expect a striving animal to strive for.

If you are feeling bugs on your skin, and you have been diagnosed with a schizoaffective disorder, you should get tested and maybe treated for lyme disease. You might be surprised, because neuroborreliosis might be the cause of your sensation and your "schizoaffective disorder", at the same time. Psychatrists sometimes do not search all organic causes of mental illnes.

I know exactly what you're talking about! I can't be sure if yours in all in your mind, but I'm sure that mine is! It tends to start up in bed when I can't sleep. Once it starts, it skips from one spot to another. I wish I hadn't poked into this thread, because I've started s*** up just by thinking about it. Now I have to keep scratching it. Gotta stop thinking about it! Gotta distract myself to something else. Best defense right there. Just a pointer if you think it's B/S and it starts up.