ADHD and Oversensitivity of the Skin

Tension Deficit disorder – understanding a Natural treatment

people with this type of hypersensitivity are usually very sensitive to touch and can be considered as suffering from a Tension Deficit disorder. Gentle touch can cause itching, faint aching or varying intensities of tickling that does not easily stop unless the area is dealt with by rubbing, firm squeezing, or scratching. Individuals with skin hypersensitivity will often perceive gentle touch as aggressive or intrusive and will react to it as such.

They may be uncomfortable with certain fabrics, soaps, clothing tags, or various textures like grass or sand. The way they tend to touch others may be too strong or too rough, and they may prefer to be hugged strongly or to wipe off kisses. They may have difficulty in crowded spaces and may also come across as emotionally oversensitive at times. Part of the ADHD symptoms can be attributed to that condition as well.

In order to understand the state of an individual who suffers from hypersensitivity of the skin, let us try to imagine a situation in which the nerves of the skin, instead of ending on the skin continue to grow and spread outward beyond the boundaries of the skin. In this case, it feels as if the nervous system grows beyond the actual body. The amount of input from this extended and very sensitive system may become overwhelming. In a crowd, the individual may experience a sensation so strong that he feels physically threatened, angry, or frightened. Children with hypersensitive skin have repeatedly reported that the emotional state of those around them affects them sometimes significantly and alters their own emotions and thoughts. Their parents’ moods, in particular, tend to penetrate and change theirs. Moreover, they report that even though they can arrive at school feeling focused and ready, if another child enters the classroom feeling angry or sad, their own mood changes; and they lose their concentration, having to focus on signs of the classmate’s well-being rather than the lesson. Those typical ADHD symptoms can be changed.

Once these children learn how to modulate their senses through practicing the Gray Meditation ("Intelligence integration" By Moshe Elbaum), they report that others’ moods no longer bother them. They can still be aware of another person’s mood; but the feelings of others no longer take over their cognitive, emotional, or energetic intelligences or energy reserves.

By modulating their senses, the children can feel protected with clear, well-defined boundaries. In feeling protected, the child’s sense of self isn’t blurred into a confusing plurality.

Some people who suffer from anorexia admit that even as they were getting thinner, they felt themselves growing bigger. It is therefore highly recommended to check whether those who suffer from anorexia have hypersensitivity in their skin since this condition may contribute substantially to sensations involving poor modulation (and therefore improper awareness) in the brain, relative to the actual body size.

A child with oversensitivity of the skin may:

• Act aggressively or impulsively “without cause”

• Appear tired, exhausted, or depressed

• Wipe off kisses

• Prefer strong hugs

• Dislike gentle caresses

• Prefer walking barefoot over wearing socks/shoes or prefer walking with socks over walking barefoot/with shoes

• Adjust socks frequently or find socks bothersome

• Have difficulty walking barefoot on sand or grass

• Remove/complain of clothing tags

• Prefer long-sleeve shirts over short-sleeve shirts, or pants over shorts

• Dislike wool clothing or turtleneck shirts

• Prefer new clothes to be washed before wearing them

• Dislike when others wash their face or towel dries their body after a bath

• Avoid tooth-brushing, fingernail clipping, or hair brushing

• Strongly prefer clean/washed hands over having dirty hands

• Dislike being tickled or are extremely ticklish

• Be surprised or bothered by sudden touch (without advance warning)

• Prefer to sit against a wall instead of the center of a room

• Avoid contact with animals

• Avoid contact with water