Trypophobia (Fear Of Holes) – Causes, Symptoms, Test, Treatment

What Is Trypophobia?

Trypophobia is a phobia in which person feel intense, extreme, irrational fear or Anxiety by looking at irregular patterns or bumps or clusters of small holes.  The term Trypos means holes and phobus means fear.  The holes may be soap bubbles, seeds of a lotus, skin infections or any kind of clusters or holes.  People having trypophobia develop panic attacks or break into hot sweats at the sight of these clusters or holes. “Trypophobia” was coined by participant of online forum in 2005.

Trypophobia is not recognized officially as a mental disorder, but few studies concluded that this phobia is a result of biological repulsion that associates trypophobic shapes with disease or danger. Cole and Wilkins studied tryphophobia symptoms by exposing persons to the triggers. Out of 286 participants 16% reported discomfort and repulsion when exposed to the imagery.

Trypophobia With Skin Disease

Many infections like small pox, moderate to severe acne, HPV causes small clusters of eruptions on the skin.  The sight of these can cause trypophobia in some individuals.

Patterns That Cause Trypophobia

• Lotus seeds
• Dried clusters of any flowers
• Honeycomb (individuals associate this with a dangerous animal like rattlesnake)
• Bubbles
• Soap bubbles
• Strawberries
• Pomegranates
• Water condensation
• Coral
• Skin infections with clusters or bumps
• Pores in skin (acne)
• Small pox skin manifestation
• Leprosy skin manifestation
• HPV skin manifestation

What Is The Etiology Or Cause?

Studies show that Trypophobia is an evolutionary response, a biological fear of harmful things.  Researchers are unable to come to a conclusion on whether to classify trypophobia as a real phobia.  More research has to be done to know the exact cause of this condition.

What Are The Symptoms?

People suffering from trypophobia exhibit these symptoms when they see clusters of holes or bumps.

• Disgust on seeing the patterns
• Gag reflex
• Nausea
• Panic attacks
• Hot sweats
• Repulsiveness
• Goosebumps
• Dizziness
• Increased heart rate
• Skin itching
• Trembling
• Spasms

What Are The Risk Factors?

Many studies have been conducted which associate trypophobia with generalized anxiety disorder.  Not much is known about risk factors and much research needs to be done.

How Is The Diagnosis Made?

Diagnosis is done by past history, social history, and psychiatric history, but it is a non-diagnosable condition as it is not officially recognized by mental and medical health associations.

What Is The Treatment?

There is no specific treatment for this condition.  The phobia in itself can be treated with exposure therapy (a type of psychotherapy) and cognitive behavioral therapy and medications are prescribed to relieve anxiety and fear.

• Exposure Therapy :  This is a technique in behavior therapy which is thought to help anxiety disorders like in trypophobia.  This involves exposing the patient to the source of anxiety or fear which helps the patient to face the fear and let go of it.
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy :  The therapist talks to the patient regarding his/her thoughts or feelings and how to overcome these thoughts of fear or anxiety.
• Self-Help Groups :  As for other types of illnesses and disorder, there are support groups for trypophobic persons also.  Some are there in social media sites like Facebook.  You can join this group and keep in touch with persons suffering from this phobia and can gather a lot of helpful information.  Patients can involve themselves with people who suffer from the same disorder in self-help groups and discuss about symptoms and set goals on how to overcome it.
• Medications :  Although there are no specific medications for the treatment of trypophobia, but symptoms can be treated with anti-anxiety medicines, beta-blockers and sedatives.
• Relaxation Techniques like yoga and deep breathing also help in alleviating the symptoms.
• Neuro-linguistic Programme : NLP programme alters behavior and thoughts and used for personality development. It reduces the intensity of the fear from the stimulus.

Lifestyle Modifications – Some modifications in lifestyle which go a long way in alleviating the symptoms of trypophobia are:

Get enough rest and sleep

• Eat a healthy diet
• Avoid caffeine and sodas
• Practice Regular exercise
• Hygiene

Prevention And Overcoming Trypophobia

• The first step is to find out if you are trypophobic.  Understand the phobia.  What do you feel at the sight of closely placed cluster of holes like in lotus pods, bubbles or beehives.  Do you feel repulsion, anxiety, fear, nauseous?  If you have these feelings then you are having symptoms of trypophobia.
• Know about your illness, identify your triggers.  What triggers anxiety, fear and other symptoms in you?  Which patterns trigger the panic attacks or anxiety in you, animal patterns or cluster-holes on fruits like strawberries and pomegranates, sponges etc.
• List down the things which cause trypophobia in you.  Not all things can trigger the trypophobia.  Certain cluster-hole patterns may trigger less or even no phobia.
• What are the symptoms you develop at the sight of certain things with cluster-hole patterns?  List down the symptoms you develop, is it just repulsiveness or nausea or more severe symptoms like panic attacks?
• Once you know about the triggers and the symptoms they cause, try to find out why it happens, whether it is related to some bad memory.  Try to reason that these may be just irrational fears and you can deal with these fears and that they are not harmful to you in any way.
• Face the fear.  You may at the beginning feel like running away at the sight of a honeycomb or bubbles or any other cluster-hole pattern.  You have to give yourself a thought about these structures, that they are in no way harmful to you and that they are just made that way.  Facing the fear helps you deal with it instead of running away.
• Get help from a mental health therapist to deal with it once you know that you are trypophobic and are not able to lead your daily life normally due to the fear and anxiety at the sight of these patterns, if you are dealing with this kind of fear and anxiety for more than 6 months or if your symptoms are severe.

Effect Of Social Media

Many people do not know about trypophobia but it became popular when internet is flooded with photoshopped images of cluster of holes on to human skin. Cole and Wilkins stated that the intensity of fear or anxiety increases if trigger is on human skin. Photoshopped images trigger symptoms in some individuals.

American horror story portrayed trypophobic character in the film and promoted storyline through advertisements online. It garnered both criticism and praise as some were disturbed at the imagery and insensitivity towards trypophobia sufferers but some are of the opinion that it might help sufferers to know more about this condition and make awareness in the general public that lead to more research on the matter.

Conclusion

Trypophobia is not officially recognized as a phobia, although many researchers have found that it exists in many individuals and the symptoms associated with it are real and may hinder an affected person’s activity of daily living to a great extent.  If you think you have the symptoms as discussed above, associated with trypophobia, and you are not able to carry on your daily activities normally, seek help from a doctor or a counselor immediately and they can treat your symptoms and counsel you on how to manage your fears and anxiety and any other symptoms.