Do clustered holes freak you out?
Bad news. You might have trypophobia. Have you ever been freaked out by the inside of a Wispa bar, a lotus flower seed cup or even the home screen on an Apple Watch?
Thousands of people are claiming to suffer from trypophobia, a condition that doesn't officially exist. Read on to find out what it is, and what we know about it to date...
Does the picture above – a lotus flower seed cup – fill you with dread? It shouldn’t do; the plant is completely harmless. But the arrangement of its seed holes has been known to make people feel extremely uncomfortable. You probably don't want to click the gallery just in case.
Welcome to the strange world of trypophobia: an irrational fear of objects with a series of clustered holes. Think honeycomb, or the patterns that emerge in sea coral. Sometimes, even circular shapes are enough to induce disgust in the sufferer – like the patterns on a poison dart frog’s back.
One common concern expressed by trypophobes is not knowing what the holes contain – something with which the Suriname toad, which gives birth through holes in its torso, doesn't help:
The limited research suggests that 11% of men and 18% of women would find the above image “uncomfortable or even repulsive to look at”. In a 2015 poll of fears and phobias by Ranker, trypophobia sits a respectable 10th: behind flying, heights and spiders, but ahead of flying, sharks and the dentist.
Clusters of holes may be evolutionarily indicative of contamination and disease—visual cues for rotten or moldy food or skin marred by an infection
Top 15 Phobia List
These are the top 15 phobias in the world, with the most common ones listed from the top.
Arachnophobia – The fear of spiders affects women four times more (48% women and 12% men).
Ophidiophobia – The fear of snakes. Phobics avoid certain cities because they have more snakes.
Acrophobia – The fear of heights. Five percent of the general population suffer from this phobia.
Agoraphobia – The fear of open or crowded spaces. People with this fear often wont leave home.
Cynophobia – The fear of dogs. This includes everything from small Poodles to large Great Danes.
Astraphobia – The fear of thunder/lightning AKA Brontophobia, Tonitrophobia, Ceraunophobia.
Claustrophobia – The fear of small spaces like elevators, small rooms and other enclosed spaces.
Mysophobia – The fear of germs. It is also rightly termed as Germophobia or Bacterophobia.
Aerophobia – The fear of flying. 25 million Americans share a fear of flying.
Trypophobia – The fear of holes is an unusual but pretty common phobia.
Carcinophobia – The fear of cancer. People with this develop extreme diets.
Thanatophobia – The fear of death. Even talking about death can be hard.
Glossophobia – The fear of public speaking. Not being able to do speeches.
Monophobia – The fear of being alone. Even while eating and/or sleeping.
Atychiphobia – The fear of failure. It is the single greatest barrier to success.
Where does the word trypophobia come from?
A phobia obviously refers to any kind of psychological fear, while trypo is derived from the Greek for “punching holes”. Know Your meme claims the term was coined in 2005, having previously been called 'Holephobia' on a Geocities page. It first appeared on Urban Dictionary in 2008.
Is trypophobia real?
Well, yes and no.
Yes in the sense that a significant number of people feel uneasy when looking at trigger images, such as the lotus flower seed cup, or the bubbles that form in boiling milk.
But that’s not the full story. As mentioned above, trypophobia is a colloquial term that emerged online in the mid-2000s. It wasn’t studied academically until 2013, and it doesn't appear in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
How to cure trypophobia Trypophobia like some other phobias is actually really easy to cure - take it from an ex trypophobic patient (me! well not complete yet as at this time). Check out some ways on how to overcome phobia including trypophobia and other types of phobia on your own and be a free man or woman like me! I specially compiled a list of useful safe ways to overcome phobia of any sort at the comfort of your home given it works for you, thank me later!