“Itch is almost a field of medicine onto itself,” he says. And only the surface has been scratched, so to speak.

Research on why scratching the itch is satisfying—at least until the itch resurfaces and you scratch again and again—suggests that scratching creates a little bit of pain. That drowns out the itching sensation. To dull the pain feeling, your brain releases serotonin, the theory goes, making itching feel good and satisfying. At least until the itch/scratch/itch/scratch cycle seems never ending.*