Trypophobia is a specific type of phobia characterized by a fear of holes. People with trypophobia may express feelings of disgust or fear, as well as other nonspecific symptoms, when encountering stimuli containing irregular patterns or clustered holes.
Signs and symptoms
Shapes that elicit a trypophobic reaction include clustered holes in innocuous contexts, such as fruit and bubbles, and in contexts associated with danger, such as holes made by insects and holes in wounds and diseased tissue such as those caused by mango flies in animals, especially dogs.
Trypophobia refers to disgust or fear of a pattern of holes. Seeing clusters of holes in foods, flowers and everyday items like sponges can trigger feelings of revulsion. Trypophobia is gaining recognition as an anxiety problem that can affect quality of life.
Is trypophobia real? Trypophobia refers to a fear of or aversion to clusters of small holes or repetitive patterns, for instance, in sponges, soap bubbles, and strawberries. It is not currently categorized as a phobia. The term “trypophobia” is Greek for a fear of holes.
Is trypophobia a skin disease? No, but it could be an evolutionary response to skin diseases. Many serious skin diseases resemble a cluster of shapes. Some say trypophobia is an excessive reaction to things that resemble serious skin diseases.
Researchers say that hole-like patterns have a type of visual energy that can cause an unpleasant reaction. Other researchers believe that the fear comes from social anxiety. Circles look a little bit like clusters of eyes or faces staring at you, which can be upsetting if you get nervous in social settings.
While it is a peculiar phobia, it is not entirely uncommon, with an expert estimating between 10 to 20 per cent of the population might experience it to some degree. WARNING: Images below may trigger some trypophobia sufferers.
Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of having peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth. Arachibutyrophobia is a rare phobia that involves a fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth.
What Does It Mean to Fear Long Words? Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the fear of long words. Understanding the phobia can help you overcome it and live a fulfilling life. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is one of the longest words in the dictionary, and ironically, it means the fear of long words.
If you are experiencing anxiety, chills, panic attacks, and other adverse reactions in response to clusters of holes, bumps, and patterns, you may have trypophobia. Even though this condition deserves further research, it's surprisingly common. While there isn't a cure, trypophobia is highly treatable.
Autophobia, or monophobia, makes you feel extremely anxious when you're alone. This fear of being alone can affect your relationships, social life and career. You may also have a fear of abandonment that stems from a traumatic childhood experience.
Astrophobia is a severe and irrational fear of stars and space. It is one of the specific phobias that are related to a defined object or situation.
Trypophobia is an intense and disproportionate fear or disgust for holes, bumps, or patterns that are clustered together or repetitive. For example, this can be triggered by holes in a honeycomb or sponge, the skin of a snake, or the seeds on a strawberry.
Pockmarks, which are also called pick marks or acne scars, are blemishes with a concave shape that can look like holes or indentations in the skin. They occur when the deeper layers of the skin become damaged. As these deeper layers heal, extra collagen is produced.
550+ Types of Phobias A to Z
Essentially, any object, activity, or situation can become a phobia if associated with a traumatic experience or irrational idea gripped by emotion.
Cherophobia. This is the saddest phobia that could ever be. Imagine being terrified - of being happy. A happy state of mind, or being joyful in a moment are not goals for cherophobics.
Symptoms of Trypophobia
Symptoms are persistent, leading to functional impairments in daily living. In addition to experiencing symptoms such as fear and disgust, people with trypophobia will often experience behavioral changes as well. Avoidance of trigger objects is common.
The reaction to these holes is intense. "These can make them feel that their skin is crawling, shudder, feel itchy and physically sick when seeing these images because they really find it disgusting and gross.
Among participants who experienced predominantly fear in relation to their trypophobia, 100.0% fulfilled the DSM-5 criteria for obsessive-compulsive disorder, while 66.6% also fulfilled the DSM-5 criteria for specific phobia.
If you have trypophobia, looking at objects covered in holes can stir up waves of discomfort. You might start to shake; feel like crying (or actually cry); suddenly become itchy or nauseated; feel short of breath, panicky, or sweaty; or experience a racing heart.
Trypophobic stimuli are associated with discomfort in children due the visual features of said stimuli. The results suggest that such discomfort is due to an instinctive response to the stimuli visual features rather than the result of a learned but non-conscious association with venomous animals.
The psychologists concluded that trypophobia is likely a fear that is part of an evolutionary function to avoid things that could make us sick. Sort of like how our sense of smell warns us not to eat rotten food.