Tickle, itch, and cutaneous pain are all sensations mediated by the painperceptive system and they share many anatomical, physiological, and psychological properties. Itching is 'an intolerable intermingling of approximately equal pain and algedonic pleasure sensations…'. Scratching may represent an attempt to relieve this 'intolerable middle ground' by increasing the painful component of the sensory experience. Frequently an ordinarily painful stimulus is felt as pleasurable when the skin is masochistically erotized. The precise basis of this masochistic erotization of the skin is not clear but probably derives from the intensity and nature of the stimulus ('masochistic pleasure is experienced only within