*SENSITIVE CONTENT* A 33-year-old New York City woman, who goes by Mayte Lisbeth, is going viral on TikTok after opening up about her struggles with touch starvation. She said, “I’m really struggling. I don’t get hugs.”
Woman Goes Viral After Opening Up About Struggles With Touch Starvation: ‘I’m Really Struggling, I Don’t Get Hugs’
A little over a week ago, Mayte uploaded a deeply personal and vulnerable video of herself. In her post, she shared how she’s been dealing with touch starvation.
In her caption, she writes, “It’s been five years of touch starvation. I’ll probably have some more years of it. I’m not handling this well.”
Beginning her video, Mayte offers a disclaimer to her viewers. She says, “I am really struggling with something, and I want to talk about it. But, before I do, I need people — if you are a parent who is like touched out by your children, I do not want to see you in the comments.
If you are someone with any kind of neurodivergency, and it manifests or shows up as you not liking touch or people touching you, I do not want to see you in the comments.”
After offering a disclaimer, Mayte continues, “I feel like I’m dying from touch starvation, y’all. I don’t get hugs. I don’t know. I feel like if I were to get the kind of hug that I f**king really want, I would crumble into pieces.”
While trying to fight back tears, Mayte goes on, “How do you deal with that? I really need to be touched and I know someone’s gonna say, ‘Go to the salon and get your hair done, or get a massage or get your nails done, so someone can hold your hand.’”
Mayte explains, “But none of those people love me. None of those services love me, right? But, I am really struggling. I’m really struggling with like … I don’t get hugs. That sh*t is… It could be like maybe a ‘Hello,’ you know or whatever, maybe. But it’s not enough. I don’t know how you … How am I going to go the rest of my life like this? I think that’s really hard. I’m just really struggling.”
In tears, Mayte explains how the night before her now-viral video, she spent 20 minutes grabbing and rubbing her arms herself. She ends the video asking for help, “If anyone else is struggling, what are you doing?”
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