# So...why am I so ticklish and how do I get over it?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 1, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393 "2005-06-01T16:22:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/1 "2005-06-01T16:22:45Z")
Yeah, I’m severely ticklish. It’s like a disease! If someone lays an unexpected hand on my bare calves I will literally flinch and scream like a little girl and jump away. That’s the worst reaction, but similar goes for my belly, armpits, back of the knee, and feet…however while ticklish those at least are not fit-inducing.
Why is this so strong in me and not in other people? Is anybody else this severely ticklish in only one part of their bodies?
How do I get over it? I’ve tried to breathe deeply, remain calm, while someone will run their hand over my calf but I can never hold it for very long.
Where are you guys all ticklish and what do you do about it?
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### Author:  [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/2 "2005-06-01T16:27:10Z")
I don’t know. When I was little, my dad could stand at the door of my room and wiggle his fingers at me, like he was tickling me, and I would literally fall down giggling (but the giggle that is hysterical, because I don’t like being tickled).
I’m no longer _that_ susceptible, but during massages, I have to be very plain that there are places you just don’t touch because I’ll come off the table. If there’s a solution, I’d like to hear about it.
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### Author:  [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/3 "2005-06-01T16:32:11Z")
> [@Campion](#):
>
> During massages, I have to be very plain that there are places you just don’t touch because I’ll come off the table.
What, as opposed to coming _on_ the table?
Sorry - couldn’t resist…
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/4 "2005-06-01T16:40:16Z")
It’s a matter of mind over body. I was extremely ticklish when I was younger, and then an uncle taught me how to…not be ticklish. Mental control is what’s needed, and lots of practice. I kinda miss it, now.
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### Author:  [@Aguecheek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aguecheek)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/5 "2005-06-01T17:08:36Z")
Extremely ticklish here as well (as members of the Seattle Trivia Team can attest). It’s not a funny thing at all for me; rather, I start to panic every time someone even threatens to tickle me. Hold me down, and I’ll start flailing, kicking and punching - anything to have the horror stopped.
My wife found out the hard way that I wasn’t kidding about it when she told her sister to give me a quick poke in the side in the middle of a restaurant. Arms flailed, chair fell over and a loud “Aaauugh!” from me.
It’s like that with my dad as well. There’s actually a law in my family that tickling is _not_ one of those cute, fun family roughhousing games.
And I have no idea how to get over it.
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### Author:  [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/6 "2005-06-01T17:12:36Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#):
>
> What, as opposed to coming _on_ the table?
> Sorry - couldn’t resist…
😉
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### Author:  [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/7 "2005-06-01T17:16:54Z")
A former girlfriend back in my college days had a standard answer when asked if she was ticklish, “It depends on who, when, and both kinds of where.”
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### Author:  [@TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoneyKingofNowhere)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/8 "2005-06-01T17:18:40Z")
> [@Campion](#):
>
> I don’t know. When I was little, my dad could stand at the door of my room and wiggle his fingers at me, like he was tickling me, and I would literally fall down giggling
The girl I’m seeing, I can jab her with a finger (in the side) just once, then simply hold my arm and finger in the air, and she loses it completely.
I say, wow, I’m not even toughing you and she screams “Stop it, you’re thinking about it bahhhhhhhh hah ha ha haha hha” and for the next few minuites if I even slowly raise my arm a couple of inches she’ll yell at me to stop.
What’s more uncontolling is for me NOT to want to raise my arm. It’s just… so… fun! 😃
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/9 "2005-06-01T17:30:30Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> It’s a matter of mind over body. I was extremely ticklish when I was younger, and then an uncle taught me how to…not be ticklish. Mental control is what’s needed, and lots of practice. I kinda miss it, now.
Yep…it can be controlled mentally but it is difficult at first.
When I was younger I was exceedingly ticklish. My (much older and much bigger) brother would occasionally hold me down and tickle me…sometimes to the point of panic as I couldn’t breathe properly. I noticed after this went on awhile that him doing that would just piss me off and when pissed off I became totally not ticklish.
I am not saying that you teach yourself to be pissed off all the time to avoid being ticklish. What I am pointing out is that I relaized my state of mind could totally undo being ticklish.
I still am ticklish but am can put a damper on it if it gets to be a little too much for me from, say, a frisky girlfriend (this I found is necessary as I once, out of pure reaction, threw a previous girlfriend who was tickling me out of bed on onto her ass on the floor).
With some practice you can likely mitigate how ticklish you are. It’s all in your head afterall.
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### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/10 "2005-06-01T17:33:50Z")
I am very ticklish too, but I have to admit, I LOVE being tickled by girls. Way more than I should.
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### Author:  [@Typically\_Sunday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typically_Sunday)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/11 "2005-06-01T17:57:54Z")
At some point when I was a kid I decided to not be ticklish anymore. It’s a little hard to explain… at first I concentrated on visualizing something (a house in Vermont that I went to every year) and remembering the details of the surroudings while ignoring the tickling. Now I don’t even have to concentrate that hard to keep from being ticklish. It also helps to remember that most of the time when people are tickling you they’re just poking at your underarms or whatever and its not that effective.
I’m still pretty ticklish and if you get me in the right place even concentrating won’t always help, but with enough practice its easy to get over.
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### Author:  [@cruel\_butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cruel_butterfly)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/12 "2005-06-01T18:20:18Z")
I tried that “mind over body” technique (several variations of it over time) to no avail. I am just going to have to accept that I have always been and will always be ticklish.
My older brother used to think it was great fun to hold me down and tickle me until I peed in my pants (literally). The result of that torture? Being tickled, to me, is more accurately described as painful than fun. I don’t dish it out because I don’t wanna take it.
…and I experience that “phantom tickle” sensation too when someone pretends to tickle me from across the room…
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### Author:  [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/13 "2005-06-01T18:46:50Z")
> [@cruel butterfly](#):
>
> \ “phantom tickle” \
Band Name!
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### Author:  [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/14 "2005-06-01T19:16:39Z")
> [@Anaamika](#):
>
> Yeah, I’m severely ticklish. It’s like a disease! If someone lays an unexpected hand on my bare calves I will literally flinch and scream like a little girl and jump away. That’s the worst reaction, but similar goes for my belly, armpits, back of the knee, and feet…
I think a scientific experiment is called for. **You** will lie, blindfolded, on your back; while **I** will tickle random parts of your anatomy and record the reactions… 😃
So, how _you_ doin’ now? 😉
Well, somebody had to do it…
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### Author:  [@archmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/archmichael)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/15 "2005-06-01T19:19:54Z")
Multiple sessions of being tied down with five-point restraints and tickle tortured for hours (preferably with an ostrich feather) is the only thing I can recommend.
Start off with 20 sessions. If it doesn’t work, you can always try 20 more times
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/16 "2005-06-01T19:27:37Z")
You guys are \*killing \* me. I just wouldn’t be able to handle it. I’d probably die. I’m dying just thinking about it.
_shudders_
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/17 "2005-06-01T19:38:59Z")
> [@cruel butterfly](#):
>
> I tried that “mind over body” technique (several variations of it over time) to no avail. I am just going to have to accept that I have always been and will always be ticklish.
>
> My older brother used to think it was great fun to hold me down and tickle me until I peed in my pants (literally). The result of that torture? Being tickled, to me, is more accurately described as painful than fun. I don’t dish it out because I don’t wanna take it.
>
> …and I experience that “phantom tickle” sensation too when someone pretends to tickle me from across the room…
My ex did this to me. That’s when I decided what a sadistic mutherfucker he was. It is not funny…it’s not cute…it’s fucking sick. I’ll give a person one time to give me a friendly tickle and then I tell them it’s not fun for me. If they persist, I get very vocal about it. It is a form of torture, and anyone who does this to someone who is bothered by it has a fucking screw loose.
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### Author:  [@trupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trupa)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/18 "2005-06-01T19:47:21Z")
true story:
When I was in college (_CEGEP_) I was taking judo classes. The sensei liked to use me to demonstrate strangle holds, because I’m pretty big in the upperbody, and everybody could see what he did with his hands clearly. Now, I’m pretty ticklish aroud the neck, so when he was just placing his hands without force, to demonstrate, I would often start to giggle involuntarily, and the sensei, a small wirery \ guy, often sitting on my chest at the time, would start to bounce up and down like he was in a car on a rough road. I would be so relieved when he would finally apply a bit of force because the tickling would stop. I would sound like:
"giggle - giggle - urk - gargle - ahhh- tharnrks
BTW, try not to let 90 lb 4’11’ women with forearms with edges like dull kitchen knives practice stangle holds on you - unless you want to talk like Marlon Brando for a week. That girl could turn off my lights like she was using a switch…
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### Author:  [@pestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pestie)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/19 "2005-06-01T20:01:41Z")
A friend of mine swears that she can overcome being tickled by pressing into whatever/whoever is touching her. She said it’s the difference between being unexpectedly touched and knowing it’s coming/having some control over it.
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### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-am-i-so-ticklish-and-how-do-i-get-over-it/306393/20 "2005-06-01T20:33:54Z")
Tickling can can be a form of intimacy…sometimes. My fiancee is very ticklish, and she hates (HATES) it. If I ever tickle her just out of fun-loving exuberance or whatever, she’ll collapse and laugh and giggle and otherwise appear that she’s having a great time. When I stop, however, the truth becomes clear. All that giggling was an autonomic reaction, and she really felt like she was being tortured the entire time. She gets very, very angry, and it always puts her in a black mood for hours.
I don’t tickle her anymore.
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