The concept of skin hunger and thirst is similar to that of happy sickness and heart fasting, emphasising the characteristics of a certain group reaction, a problem constructed by social culture.
There is no specialist literature in medical practice that defines or examines the problem.
Skin hunger is usually considered to be a psychological problem that results from a lack of intimate contact with parents during infancy and childhood, which leads to a craving for lots of touching and cuddling in adulthood.