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How Important is The Human Touch?

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Nicolette:

Do you have any specifics on the hug tests? Like who they tested and how, stuff like that? I'm curious to see what type of limitations it had. Rather interesting.

I also prefer animal touch to human. :)

bec
 
When I asked this question, I did not take into account that it may take the direction
of hugs from people other than family/loved ones!

I am so glad to see the type of interest this has evoked. I was hoping to get the answer I was seeking, and I did.

It has been WAY to long since I received a hug. Even though I live with mother, I sudenly realized that we never hug! A situation that is going to be corrected this
very day!

The way a hug makes me feel is so comforting and safe and warm. It is just like
taking a big deep breath makes you feel. Relaxed and away from the stress.

I can't believe I have allowed this basic human need to fall by the way side with
mom. But then, when I think about it we never were a touchy, feely family!

I need a hug today. So when she wakes up , I'm gonna get one. So my next question to you is this. Have you hugged your loved one today?
 
I used to think that I hated being touched. I would feel eeked out if someone I didn't know even brushed against me (and still do to some degree). During the past few years though I have realized that the right person can make being touched one of the most wonderful experiences for me. When my husband hugs me I feel like nothing can go wrong, ever! I don't think we've gone one single day that we've been together without sharing a hug.
 
I hug my dad almost every morning, (unless I'm mad at him for saying something stupid to me). It has done wonders for me. It makes me feel loved and connected. I too prefer animals to human but not necessarily when it comes to family. I do however hate it when a stranger or someone I barely know hugs me. It can make me feel violated.

My mom and I hug once in awhile but she's not very touchy, feely at all.
 
I've done some googling on 'somatic' therapy with people suffering from trauma.

I'm not a naturally huggy person, but massage I enjoy. In fact I really crave that non-sexual non-emotional professional touch, if that makes any sense!

I also have a confession - I do not like dogs. And those little creatures will seek me out every time & slober all over me, jumping up & down. Seriously there will be 99 dog lovers in the room, and they will seek out me. People look at me strangely for pushing the dog away.
 
Every once in a long while I will notice that I am suffering from what I call 'skin hunger'. That is when I usually seek out a massage therapist for a session or two. Touch deprivation is the norm for me. And so, like others here I have difficulty interpreting and tolerating touch.
 
OMG what a super word "Skin Hunger" I like that. I am suffering from it these days.
The only person I have to feed this starvation I'm going through is my mom. I've tryed hinting that I want a hug but have not asked for one. I would probably get further is I
were to express my need and ask for a hug. Ya Think? :doh:
 
Maybe your Mum is thinking about how much she would like a hug too but doesn't want to ask?

No harm in asking. The worse case scenario is she says no. And you've survived worse then that.
 
I learned that one of the ways that babies fail to thrive is not being held. I type this one-handed as I hold my grandson who started fussing. Touch is, to me, one of the most important things in life. I've seen a lot of children (when I taught) to whom a small hug was a great gift.

Like a lot who've written here, being touched now is a bit of a difficult thing. Especially by a man. A man brushing by me in a crowd or getting too close can send my anxiety soaring. I understand now that this is a learned behavior and associated with PTSD. I don't know if it will ever go away. But by people that I care about or who are 'before people' (before PTSD), touch is still pretty much ok with me. It's the new or the 'after people' that take quite a while for me to warm up to.

Touch has always been something that helps me. It continues to be a thing that helps me to calm myself when life gets too much.

Lisa
 
Researchers at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, conducted a meta-analysis of published studies and found that having social ties with friends, family, neighbors and colleagues can improve our odds of survival by 50 per cent. You can read about their study online in a paper published in the July 2010 issue of PLoS Medicine - the article is titled: Social Relationships and Mortality Risks by Julianne Holt-Lunstad.
 
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