Todd,
I would like to add to and clarify my position on itching. I think that perhaps different strategies work for different situations. For example, depending on the person, scratching a mosquito bite might simply make the problem a lot worse. In that case, using your approach would be the best option. I have not been able to experiment because I do not have mosquitoes were I am (which, ironically, is in the middle of the woods). Anyway, my situation is different from yours and thus requires a different approach. With mosquitoes, itching them often only makes the situation worse. But with ticks, scratching everything that itches even a little is the easiest way to locate and get ticks off of you. If I had cultivated an attitude where I simply ignored all itches I would likely have a lot more ticks stay long enough to embed themselves. The next time I am in an area where there are a lot of mosquitoes I will experiment with both methods and see which one works better for me.
Shadowfoot,
From practical point of view, dealing with insect bites. you are certainly correct! Itching has its uses, and it would be silly and imprudent to make a point of avoiding itching or otherwise brushing your skin, if the result is suffering bug bites.
I perhaps should have clarified this better, but my point about extinguishing the itching response was really meant more as a "demonstration experiment". It is one of the easiest and relatively harmless ways I could think of to prove to oneself how readily any "urge" can be deconditioned. Just like hunger pangs, the urge to itch can come at random times and in "waves" that increase and decrease in intensity. I was thinking here not about insect bites, but rather the seemingly causeless random itches that occur on your cheek, nose, or elbow at odd moments of the day. I wanted to show that itching is not an immutable "given", but rather a conditioned response. By purposely ignoring and refusing to reinforce an itch, or at least itching after the primary "wave" has died down substantially, the itching sensation itself can be largely or totally extinguished.
I did these experiments not so much because I wanted to live without itches, but as a way to start thinking about how appetite works. Itching is induced by the release of histamine in the skin, but that release is at least in part a conditioned response -- just as the release of the appetite regulating hormones like insulin, ghrelin, and probably leptin, are at least in part psychologically conditioned. I was able to extinguish my own itching sensations within about two days, which is a lot faster than appetite deconditioning. So I think it is helpful for people to try this in order to gain insight and confidence that deconditioning is actually possible.
Hope that clarifies.
