Why Does Talking About Bugs Make You Feel So Itchy?

A bug doesn't have to be crawling on your skin for you to feel that itchy sensation. Living in New York City, I occasionally see local news headlines and hear stories from friends of friends about the horrors of bed bugs. Although I have yet to face the nightmarish ordeal myself, I do have the same unpleasant experience whenever the topic comes up: a sudden overwhelming itching sensation on my skin. I know I’m not alone. Apparently it’s not uncommon to feel the urge to scratch when you talk or think about bugs. And in fact, there are even terms to describe this specific phenomenon. So why exactly do conversations or thoughts about creepy crawly critters cause an itching sensation, even in the absence of any actual bugs? And is there anything you can do about this phenomenon? HuffPost asked some experts to break it down. What’s happening in our brains and bodies when we talk or think about bugs?“The brain doesn’t just process reality ― it constructs it,” Dr. Shaheen E. Lakhan, a board-certified neurologist, told 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 explained that our brains can generate sensations even when there’s no physical stimulus, so a bug doesn’t have to be crawling on your skin for you to feel an itch. Instead, you can process a visual input (e.g., seeing someone else scratch) or auditory cue (hearing about insects), or it could even be purely cognitive, like when you imagine bedbugs.“When you hear about bugs on someone’s scalp, your brain doesn’t just register the words,” Lakhan said. “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 can be understood as a form of top-down processing, in which the brain’s higher-level cognitive and emotional functions ― like memories and other prior knowledge and experience ― influences sensory perception. (This is in contrast to bottom-up processing, in which the brain takes in basic sensory details to build higher level understanding.)Psychologists have also used the terms psychogenic itching, psychogenic formication and psychogenic pruritus to describe itchy sensations with no physical cause, though these terms seem to come up in more frequent and serious psychiatric cases, rather than the occasional urge to scratch when thinking of insects. With contagious itch, emotions are certainly at play as well though. “The thought of bugs can evoke feelings of disgust, anxiety, or unease,” Lakhan said. “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 can also be an aspect of connecting with other people, thanks to special cells known as “mirror neurons.” These neurons fire when someone performs an action but also when they observe another performing that action. “In the context of contagious itch, when you see someone scratching, your mirror neurons fire as if you were scratching,” Lakhan explained. “This neural mirroring contributes to our ability to empathise 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 this? Just as insects crawling on our skin prompts us to scratch and get them off, the mere thought or discussion of this possibility can activate that bug-scratching instinct. “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,” said neuroscientist Friederike Fabritius. “So it’s just safer for us to act, even if we only imagine a bug.”She emphasised that our brain networks err on the side of caution to keep us safe from harm, which was perhaps more necessary in previous eras of humanity before modern medicine, infrastructure and knowledge around threats like certain insects. “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.”These days, this type of itching sensation can 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 said. “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.”Some people are more prone to experiencing this phenomenon. Does it happen to everyone?Not everyone experiences the urge to itch when they think or talk about bugs. “Some people are more anxious and more hyper vigilant than others,” Fabritius said. “So if you’re stressed or nervous or anxious, you’re more likely to experience phantom bug itching.”Someone who is hypervigilant and easily startled might be more prone to feeling itchy at the thought of bugs. The same goes for those with high levels of empathy and/or heightened interoception (sensitivity to bodily sensations), Lakhan noted. “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 said. “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 way to prevent or stop this sensation?Feeling itchy when the topic of bugs comes up can be more than just 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 said, adding that people with mental health conditions like delusional parasitosis are particularly at risk of harm. There are ways to potentially prevent or address contagious itch in the moment, however. “It starts with recognising that the sensation is coming from your brain, not your body,” Lakhan said. “That alone gives you power over it. Try cognitive reframing. Remind yourself that this is a brain glitch, not a real infestation.”He recommended techniques like grounding exercises in which you focus on the pressure of your feet on the floor, the texture of your clothing or anything else that shifts your attention from imagined sensations to actual sensations. Sensory redirection is another option. “Do something tactile, like running your hands under cold water or grabbing an object with texture, like a stress ball or beaded bracelet,” Lakhan advised. “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 mental work to overcome entrenched instincts, particularly those 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 said. “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 also suggested taking an approach that may feel particularly counterintuitive to those with discomfort around insects. “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 said. “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.”Related...If I Had To Learn This Horrific Bedbug Penis Fact, You Do Too6 Signs You Have Bedbugs On Your Mattress (And Everywhere)How To Tell You Have Bedbugs (And How To Get Rid Of Them)

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