I take affront (well, not really) to Cecil’s (Darwin’s?) claim that one cannot tickle oneself. I most definitely CAN. If I run my fingers lightly down the spine of my lower back, or along the sole of my foot, it tickles like crazy! :dubious:
I am in the same boat as the person asking the question. My wife loves tickling and I HATE it. I am so ticklish that my semi-violent reflexive (involuntary) reactions can (and have) cause injury to her and me both. She doesn’t even have to try to tickle me… all she has to do is touch me and it tickles. It makes intimacy difficult, and is a bane of my existence.
I hate being this way for both our sakes, and I wish I could change it. Perhaps Cecil’s comment “but your girlfriend is making you suffer by causing you to enjoy yourself (i.e., laugh) too much” implies a psychological cure.
I may see a counselor about it.
edit:
Though, I will say that being tickled is NOT IN ANY WAY enjoyable, and doesn’t make me laugh!
There are two different types of tickling, knismesis and gargalesis. Knismesis is sensitivity to light touch, while gargalesis requires a stronger one. Gargalesis is the one that interests scientists more, because, as the master says, you cannot do it to yourself. There are exceptions, but they usually involve people with other psychological or sociological problems, like autism.
Also, while gargalesis is usually pleasant, at least at first, knismesis is related to the itching sensation, and thus unpleasant to some people. My guess is that you are so sensitive to knismesis that you rarely reach gargalesis.
There is a psychological component, as most people seem to act as if they enjoy it, but later report they did not. This implies that the response itself would be enjoyable, if not for other psychological factors, such as anxiety and embarrassment.
The oddness is the juxtaposition between the laughter it causes and the simultaneous near univeral desire to make it stop. If it feels so good, why do we want it to stop and report it as unpleasant. If it is so unpleasant, why does it make us laugh and smile? Those articles say that these are elements of investigation.
Most ticklish people I know laugh, giggle, and generally act like they’re having a good time. But afterwards claim they did not like the activity and wanted to make it stop.
In addition to the anxiety and embarrassment listed by BigT above, I would also suggest helplessness, as most people being tickled tend to have very little capacity to defend themselves.
As a child, I was ticklish. As I grew older, my ticklish response lessened a great deal. Only my mom could tickle me (no Freudian comments please), and nowadays the best I’ll get is the slightest ticklish twinge when someone does their best with either light touches (knismesis) or harder touches (gargalesis). It’s never enough to make me flinch, and I can increase my resistance to it by relaxing more. I find the more relaxed I am, the less ticklish I am.
Edit: I also wanted to add that the state of mind someone is in definitely determines how ticklish they are. Application of a Zerbert can produce lots more laughter than finger-tickling!
I can tickle myself with what sounds like the “gargalesis” thing BigT linked to above, on my stomach. If I dig my fingers into my stomach, moving them at all causes my abdominal muscles to convulse violently and produces a very annoying tickle. I’m very ticklish on my stomach and I hate to be tickled there; it’s just too sensitive, darn it!