Toward a better understanding of "psychocutaneous disorders"

There is a group of cutaneous disorders for which we have an inadequate understanding of their etiology and which frustrates us as therapists. This includes conditions such as the dynias, neurotic excoriations, postherpetic neuralgia, prurigo nodularis, and others. Herein, we review a recent article in the New Yorker magazine which postulates a new way to look at these puzzling entities.