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Emotions and skin (II)—the conditioning of scratch responses in cases of lichen simplex
Author(s) -
ROBERTSON I.M.,
JORDAN J.M.,
WHITLOCK F.A.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
british journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.304
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1365-2133
pISSN - 0007-0963
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2133.1975.tb03101.x
Subject(s) - scratching , itching , psychology , conditioning , anxiety , stimulus (psychology) , hostility , dermatology , feeling , audiology , developmental psychology , medicine , clinical psychology , social psychology , cognitive psychology , psychiatry , statistics , physics , mathematics , acoustics
SUMMARY Lichen simplex is generally regarded as a condition initiated and perpetuated by scratching and emotional tension. It was felt that the scratching might partly be a conditional response to itching and other signals, and that feelings of guilt, anxiety and hostility would be prominent features in these patients. Conditioning experiments designed to establish scratch responses to an itch stimulus (UCS) and a tone (CS) showed that lichen simplex patients conditioned more readily and extinguished more slowly than controls. These findings were more marked when the itch stimulus was applied to affected as compared with normal skin. It was not possible to distinguish differences in the psychological tests between patients and controls. The possible significance of these findings is discussed.