BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Mental Health Trypophobia?

I tripped across this phobia online and recognized that I experience some of the symptoms. It isn't a true "phobia" in me in that my level of discomfort is quite minor and non-disruptive to my life but from the time I was a child, it "bothered" me to see things like honeycomb or any clustered holes. A friend of mine had a necklace that was a series of circles (holes) and I had this irrational desire to cut them open. It was very minor, as I said, but still an odd feeling.

On the other hand, I love polka dots, perhaps because they are not empty holes?

What are the causes of trypophobia?

Hmmm... this is very interesting, I'll be looking forward to the whys and wherefores.

I think I have quite a few on this list:

http:
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_phobias

Dear Lori and Burt,
Are you trying to trump the doctor?? LOL....

Trypophobia is fear of holes. Usually clustered holes found in nature - honeycomb, seeds in a flower.

It is not an official phobia---not listed/recognized in scientific literature or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
In order to be a formal diagnosis the phobia would need to interfere “significantly with the person’s normal routine.”

People can be afraid of absolutely anything.

The causes? Same as for other fears and phobias....
-traumatic experiences
-observational learning (watching others be afraid)
-information and instruction, i.e. learning to fear being alone in the dark after watching too many horror movies.
-biological factors - like an inherited predisposition.

If we could all trump together, maybe we'll get shares in Trump Towers !!!

No, not trying to trump you but rather appeal to you and your expertise!

Although I wouldn't mind living in Trump Towers! LOL.

As for trypophobia, my daughter brought up a possible cause for why I feel grossed out by clustered holes. She said that they probably remind me subconsciously of bugs which I find icky. My husband took a look at pics that trigger trypophobia and said that anyone would get grossed out looking at those images. But just plain clustered holes bug me and not him.

I don't get panicked or fearful, just really grossed out. Perhaps as a child, I saw a movie or something that featured bugs coming out of clustered holes. I saw a documentary about the jungle and a parasitic bug laid eggs in a caterpillar. Every one of the larvae emerged from the skin of the caterpillar all at once, bursting out of these tiny holes. I was so grossed out by that image that I still remember it.

I was kidding.

So Lori, your current and continued aversion could be a combo of a traumatic event (although not at the level of really being considered traumatic--but it was very upsetting and disturbing to you)-seeing something in a movie that disturbed you combined with not being particularly fond of bugs.