Trypophobia

Hell is in the holes

The dreaded lotus seed pod (Image by Jamie Earley from Pixabay)

When I was a young man, I once inspected a display of dried flowers at my mother’s house. In their midst, I came across something that made me recoil in horror. It was a dried lotus pod, whose irregular and deep holes, some of which had seeds inside, made me squirm. I had discovered my trypophobia, even though that word didn’t exist at the time.

Repetitive Pattern Phobia

According to Wikipedia, trypophobia is an aversion to the sight of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps. The term was only coined in 2005, taking its name from the Greek trypos, which means to drill holes, and phobia, which is, of course, a fear of, or aversion to. The condition is also known as repetitive pattern phobia.

So, on coming across that lotus pod, I got an unpleasant queasiness; a feeling I would experience many times. Reaction to trypophobic images vary between unease, nausea, an itching scalp, and a general feeling of skin crawling. And there’s plenty to see, as the Internet is awash with trypophobic triggers, not all of which come from nature.

Sadly, there are some in our midst who take pleasure in creating images that are specifically designed to stir a reaction in those who are affected by trypophobia. The first such image I saw was of a woman’s breast, onto which the holes from a…