February 13, 2013

"Trypophobia... is an irrational fear of holes, pods or cracks — specifically, clusters of them."

"On Instagram and Reddit, people share photographs of clusters that make them anxious, obsessed and even nauseated."
Many images show holey foods or clusters of seeds, like aerated chocolates, the innards of a red bell pepper, and bubbles rising up in pancakes while they cook.

"I don't like the holes in crumpets or sponges or Swiss cheese," @CourtneySGray said on Twitter. "They all make me shudder and panic."

The trypophobia Facebook page touts nearly 7,000 followers, who commiserate on their "condition" and triggers. "When macaroni noodles stand up straight when I'm boiling them, I wanna cry," Kelcey Piper remarked on Facebook. "Anyone else experienced this?"
The amazing thing is, the link goes to NPR, where there's no mention whatsoever of Sigmund Freud. How radically our culture has changed in the last 30 years!

32 comments:

gadfly said...

“The first rule of holes: When you're in one stop digging.”


― Molly Ivins

kentuckyliz said...

I like bubbles in baked goods.

Bob R said...

Change for the better. Pseudoscience is a generous term for Freud's work.

Bob Ellison said...

I have an irrational fear of irrational fears. Not my own. My irrational fears seem totally rational to me. But when someone else fears, say, bunny slippers, it makes my stomach churn and my nose run.

Astro said...

“The first rule of holes: When you're in one stop digging.”

That rule kinda makes it hard to plant a tree doesn't it? Or make a Koi pond, or dig a well, or start the foundation for a house?
Shouldn't the first rule be: Decide if you want, or need, a hole.
I'm guessing that rule was invented by someone who's never dug a real hole in her life. I'd say she's dug herself a hole in her own logic. Did she want to do that? If not, she'd better stop digging.

Unknown said...


These Trypophobics must like flat beer.

Sam L. said...

So, what is a rational fear of holes, other than big ones one could fall into in the dark, caves, and the like?

When you find youreelf in a hole of your own digging, examine it to see if you could have done better, and if you wish to stay there.

Palladian said...

Faux phobias are a way for thoroughly uninteresting people to appear interesting.

Or so they think...

Palladian said...

And these sorts of hysterical ideas spread quickly on the internet; remember that "disease" where people became convinced that multicolored fibers were growing out of sores on their skin? I seem to remember that even Joni Mitchell "caught" that one.

MadisonMan said...

The Lotus Seed pod in the linked-to article is kinda disgusting, but I don't think I have a phobia about it.

Ann Althouse said...

"Faux phobias are a way for thoroughly uninteresting people to appear interesting."

It's completely unsexy of them though. What's the point of being interesting in a way that's anti-sex?

YoungHegelian said...

So, I guess these folks never sit down for an evening well-spent reading Justin Martyr.

Palladian said...

It's completely unsexy of them though. What's the point of being interesting in a way that's anti-sex?

Hard to say, so to speak.

My advice to these people: AVOID BLACKBURN LANCASHIRE.

Paul Brinkley said...

Coworker of mine actually has trypophobia, much to even his own surprise. It's really a thing. I took one of the online tests (they just show pictures of holey surfaces one after the other), and it didn't bother me at all. He reports a near irresistible itching sensation.

YoungHegelian said...

Not to mention, I guess they never, ever sat through Yellow Submarine.

KCFleming said...

Soon enough, some of these become convinced they are ill, and myriad other symptoms arise. Then the medical odyssey begins.

Anonymous said...

Morgellens Disease.

Michael K said...

"The amazing thing is, the link goes to NPR, where there's no mention whatsoever of Sigmund Freud. How radically our culture has changed in the last 30 years!"

Thank god we have gotten past that old fraud. He is responsible for more human misery than anyone except Stalin and Mao Tse Tung/

Methadras said...

Fake, stupid phobia. Most likely he's just a giant pussy with some level of synesthesia.

DADvocate said...

When I go rabbit hunting my trypophobia really acts up. I love eating rabbits and hunting rabbits. But, I have to go out in the fields where there are rabbit holes to hunt the rabbits!

The beagles, cute dogs that are smaller than St. Bernard puppies, chase the rabbits so I don't have to go near the holes. Rabbits try to run to their hole and get in it before I shoot them. I have to locate the hole, get the right angle and shoot the rabbit before it gets in the hole. Sometimes I accidentally step in a hole I didn't see. Sometimes it's a gopher or groundhog hole. There are smaller snake holes all around.

Then, there's this rabbit that keeps evading me and taunting me. "What's up, Doc?" I'll get that crazy rabbit someday.

Elmer Fudd

DADvocate said...

"Faux phobias are a way for thoroughly uninteresting people to appear interesting."

It's completely unsexy of them though. What's the point of being interesting in a way that's anti-sex?


One of the interesting aspects of pathological psychology is that mental illnesses, particularly neuroses, change to suit fads, or to be "different." Many of the cases Freud discussed were types of mental illness much more common is his day than today, hysterical blindness/paralysis or such.

When neurotic people realize that a certain neurosis is easily identified and passe, they find or create a new and "interesting" neurosis to take its place.

Wince said...

I have a rational fear of assholes.

kentuckyliz said...

Irrational fear of irrational fears--I like it.

Even better: a rational fear of irrational fears. Because I am nothing if not reasonable.

Unknown said...

When I taught Jr High I had to supervise a group of students selling popcorn at a ball game. One of the boys nearly had a meltdown when he poured the seasoned salt mixture over the popcorn kernels and it sifted down through them leaving little holes and peaks.
It was such a weird reaction I still remember it over 20 years later. Now I wonder if he has/had trypophobia.

Fred Drinkwater said...

One of the first things I developed on a recent trip to Panama was a perfectly rational fear of holes. Like the 2x2 foot hole in the sidewalk, 6 feet deep. Like the hole in the drain grate big enough to take a size 12 shoe. And these were ALL OVER THE PLACE, in otherwise regular downtown areas. All completely unmarked. Weird.

Fred Drinkwater said...

One of the first things I developed on a recent trip to Panama was a perfectly rational fear of holes. Like the 2x2 foot hole in the sidewalk, 6 feet deep. Like the hole in the drain grate big enough to take a size 12 shoe. And these were ALL OVER THE PLACE, in otherwise regular downtown areas. All completely unmarked. Weird.

Chip S. said...

Fred D., you don't happen to be an advisor to Mario Rubio, do you?

Mary Beth said...

Palladian said...

Faux phobias are a way for thoroughly uninteresting people to appear interesting.

Or so they think...

2/13/13, 7:12 PM


Phobics need to up their game if they want to get more attention than otherkin.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

"..the link goes to NPR..."

'Nuf said. The article is wholly void.

MayBee said...

I'm not afraid of clusters of holes or bubbles, but some can really gross me out. Like pictures of molar pregnancies, the way a peeper toad spawns, or fish in a feeding frenzy all squirming on top of each other.

I think these feelings come from childhood fever dreams. I think a lot of people's irrational gross-outs (or fears) come from that.

Menahem Globus said...

None of the pictures in the slideshow bother me but I did a GIS on 'melted polystyrene' and I'm physically ill. I used to think it was the chemicals released when the material burned that caused me to feel ill. It appears that it was the appearance of the material all along.

Sam L. said...

"“The first rule of holes: When you're in one stop digging.

― Molly Ivins"

A little town in Texas is missing it's idiot. Molly Ivins, please call home.