Human Social Behavior (Touch) Question

by Damien Lee
(Seattle)

What could cause an aversion to human touch? I have a friend who describes it to me as feeling 'incredibly uncomfortable' with human touch. She says that sometimes she feels pain, like a hot or cold sensation, when she is touched.


Typically when touched she freezes up, and she tells me that the only way she can force herself to touch other people or be touched by them is by 'going somewhere else' mentally and detaching herself from her body. What could cause these sorts of reactions to human contact?