I was reading through the latest copy of Scientific American Mind the other day and found out that my complete aversion to clusters of holes has a name: trypophobia. I have a fear of holes. Not huge potholes like the kind that litter the back roads of Romania, and not even the medium-sized mole holes that disrupt my lawn. No, I get skeeved out about little holes, lots of little holes, especially if there is (or might be) something in them.
Like the lotus seed head… that stresses me out. It makes my skin itch and my stomach wriggle. Revulsion is the word that comes to mind.
For a long time psychologists have insisted that trypophobia is not a real phobia, that it is rather just a “grossed out” response to seeing something that reminds you of something else. Like maybe for me that would be the wasps that terrified me as a child. Perhaps, with good reason, they are the basis of my fear of all things that have clusters of holes. When I was about nine, I fell asleep out in the summer sunshine on the sideboard of the well drilling truck that was always parked in our country driveway. I woke to a frenzy of wasps and their nest on my bare stomach. The truck had been recently used and it is likely that its rhythmic banging had loosened the nest. I guess in their busy wasp daily activity they had inadvertently shaken it the rest of the way off its moorings, and they with it tumbled down onto me. The adrenaline surge I experienced in the moment I woke up rewired me for life. Even now, decades later, just hearing the sound of a wasp buzzing and banging against a window gives me chills.
The writers over at SAM have given credibility to my phobia, and that’s all it took for me to get Googling. I found lots of creepy pictures (that probably aren’t creepy at all to you) and it was so upsetting that I thought I might see if I am the only one in my family who feels this way. I called poor Jade (daddy and Gecko were out, and the girls were in bed) in to my office and scrolled down through my image search results with him planted on my lap. He wasn’t impressed. But then I found the video, the trypophobia test. We watched it together, both of us trying hard not to squirm. Right around 1:30 when the baby toads start popping out of the holes all over their mother’back, we both knew we were done for.
So how about you, do clusters of little holes trigger a physical response in you? Do they make you itch, sweat, feel nauseous? I’ve been flashing the lotus picture to everyone who comes in my house, and apparently trypophobia is not all that common. Maybe your thing is claustrophobia, acrophobia, or arachnophobia? Am I out here in phobia land all by myself?
I get itchy and goosebumps when I see holes where they don’t belong. Like holes in the ground. I recently bought a cucumber that was hollow and I’m pretty sure I’ll never eat a cucumber again. I’m also afraid of being in the water with any kind of animal.
Ever since I saw the picture of the lotus head on fb I’ve been itching all day. It’s crazy how it has that effect on someone. I feel crazy and need some more anti itch cream lol
Oh my god. Yes!!! I am the same way!!! I’m shuddering right now just thinking about the frogs and when people have those lotus things in their houses for decoration I have to try so hard not to look. I’ve always categorized it as a fear of uncleanable surfaces, but maybe it is a hole thing. But I’m also grossed out by close up pictures of the human tongue and pine cones (there are ALWAYS bugs in there!). Shudder, shudder.
As I started reading this, my guess was that small hole represented a wasp nest to you. I don’t think I have any phobias.
BTW – I saw that frog video on TV, I thought it was cool — freaky but cool. Show it to Gecko, I bet you he would think it is cool.
~D
You’ll have to show it to him. No way can I watch that again, lol.
When I was 8yo, my parents had this bright idea to take us all camping near Mammoth Cave National Park. For the most part, the cave was spacious. . . until you go to “fat man’s squeeze”. I have been petrified of closed in spaces ever since then. I get sweaty and scared in elevators even. I am also afraid of heights. When I have to climb after Ellie on some of the those jungle gyms. . . .
Mammoth Cave in Kentucky? I have been there. It is amazing, except obviously for that “squeeze” spot. You would not do well in France…. teeny-tiny elevators and people stand right next to you!
Arachnophobia, but not severe, only if it’s on me or i’m about to walk into one. I also have an issue, if someone has head lice, my body starts itching all over, my heart rate rises, sometimes just talking about it, makes me itch, like now, starting to scratch my head…
OMG, you’re not kidding. Every time I get a note in my kid’s backpack with the dreaded, “A child in your child’s classroom has lice…” I get itchy.