Science explains the root cause of trypophobia
While phobias are usually known as irrational fears, sufferers of trypophobia might have a good reason for their fear.
Trypophobia is loosely defined as the fear of irrefular patterns or clusters of small holes and lumps. The name is not yet recognised by the American Psychiatric Association. In nature, lotus seeds can trigger the phobia, while in daily life, anything from a foamy coffee, an omelette or soap bubbles can trigger it.
Psychologists at the University of Kent believe that the phobia may be a heightened aversion to parasites and infectious diseases. In the past, clusters of round shapes reminded people of poisonous predators, as the Independent reports.
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Tom Kupfer, leading the team at Kent’s School of Psychology, assumes that the fear could be a reminder of the clusters and round bumps that can develop on human skin after an infection or when a parasite got under the skin. Small circles can appear on the bodies of people affected by smallpox, measles, scarlet fever, rubella and typhus.
The psychologists at the University of Kent showed 600 people – half sufferers from trypophobia and half non-trypophobic university students – 16 images of clustered circles. Out of the 16 images, half of them were images of skin clusters caused by a disease or parasite. Both groups found these images unpleasant. However, trypophobics found all 16 images uncomfortable.
Trypohobia might be more of an aversion than a phobia. Those who suffer from it reported feelings of sickness when exposed to triggering images. They also described the sensation as “skin crawling” or itching, which enforces the idea that trypohobia might have its roots in the fear of parasites.
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