What is trypophobia? #TriggerWarning

Trypophobia is the name for the phobia (intense and apparently irrational fear) of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps. The term was coined by a web user back in 2005 on an internet forum. I always assumed its etymology lies in the word tripe and the Greek work for fear, maybe that is what she was thinking of. I find tripe repellant to look at (and eat, come to that). It’s a weird one though isn’t it…why should anyone be scared of holes or bumps? Well, food full of holes might be rotten, whereas bumps might be present on food or skin because of disease. So, it could be that is the explanation. A subconscious response to seeing something that might cause harm. Honeycomb tripe But, as with lots of so-called irrational fears, nobody really knows. It seems like it’s not irrational to shy away from rotten food or snakes, or potentially lethal spiders, or being up high or trapped or exposed or whatever. Me, I remember I had a dream as a child where my grandmother had a hole in her face from which were emerging lots of tiny flies, it was just a dream, but I still recall it and it makes my face tingle thinking about it. As does looking at some of those trypophobia triggers people post on the net, pictures of seed heads with holes, or photoshopped faces with lots of holes peppered in the skin. I’m not scared of any of these things as such, they just make my face tingle when I look at them or even just think about them. I have a friend ...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Psychology Source Type: blogs