26
Mar 13
Trypophobia: fear of hole clusters and other oddities
I almost included a picture of a lotus pod (a potential trigger), but I thought that was cruel. Here are some cute puppies instead.
Earlier today, I was microwaving a leftover piece of salmon. When the salmon came out of the microwave, my entire body convulsed in a wave of fear and disgust. Little air pockets had formed on the edges of the salmon, giving the appearance of miniature tumors growing out of the piece of fish. Even now as I write this post, I am shuddering at the mental image.
Sounds pretty ridiculous, right? I have similar reactions to a host of other things – potato eyes, groups of large pimples, animals that have really noticeable pores. For a long time, I thought it was just a very peculiar personality quirk. But it appears that there may be something more to this intense aversion than I’d thought. My extreme reaction to these oddities indicates that I may be suffering from trypophobia, an intense fear of clusters of holes, bumps and other shapes.
I can trace back my own trypophobia to this awful children’s nature show I was watching one day at the age of 8 or so. In this particular episode, they were highlighting a species of frog (or some other amphibian) that lays eggs in the skin of its mate. The baby frogs pop out of pores in the parent’s back when they mature. EW. EW. EW. Ever since then, the idea of things growing on other things or holes in skin really, really, really creeps me out. Did I mention EW?
Here are some other things that may elicit a visceral response if you have trypophobia: wasp nests, ant holes, bubbles in dough, crumpets, lotus seed pods, bug tunnels, Aero bars, pockmarks, and Swiss cheese. You can check out this article in Popular Science for pictures of potential triggers. Be warned: I started crying after a minute of watching the video at the end. It’s not for the faint of heart.
At first I thought this was a big joke – it sounds too bizarre to be a real affliction. But specific phobias are actually quite prevalent, estimated to occur in about 5.3% of U.S. adults at some point in their lives. More common specific phobias include arachnophobia (fear of spiders), acrophobia (fear of heights), and of course, agoraphobia. But beyond the common specific phobias lies a list of hundreds (maybe thousands) of uncommon phobias ranging from fears of clowns to fears of particular numbers.
While trypophobia is not officially recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, it has a definite online presence. The condition has a dedicated Facebook page with over 7000 members and an active online forum. Maybe some day the American Psychiatric Association will recognize trypophobia as a psychiatric illness. For now, we will have to rely on online communities for support.
An affliction like trypophobia brings up an interesting issue in modern psychiatry – when does a behavior transcend the line of normalcy and become pathological? In other words, when is a phobia considered an illness and when is it just a personality quirk?
The DSM of the American Psychiatric Association stipulates that a condition must interfere with day-to-day life before being considered a psychiatric illness. In my case, trypophobia does not really interfere with the inner workings of my life. Clusters of holes and other shapes don’t actually prevent me from doing anything. I may experience extreme discomfort when I see these images, but at the end of the day, it’s not really something that I think about very often.
But that’s just my experience. For many people, trypophobia could become an incredible burden. We all experience the world in very different and unique ways; the experience of mental illness is no different.
Do you suffer from trypophobia? I’d be interested to hear your reactions to some of the triggering images. I know I can’t look at a lotus pod seed for more than a couple seconds without having an intense visceral reaction.
Thanks for the article. I found a lot of resources to look further into this.
I believe I have this but maybe not as bad as some. My fear hits me when I see something that doesn’t make sense to me. Example, I was walking my dog one night and there were little flowers from a tree all over the ground when I looked down. I literally ran away dog in tow. Mostly because I didn’t know what they were, the next morning when I could see it didnt bother me. Even when I look things up common things on online maps the and the pinhead clusters freak me out I have to hurry and zoom in. So maybe for me it’s things that are external and clustered rather than holes in a cluster.
Check this out if you want to lose it!!! Fleshcrawl central http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIl8zcCIXQU
I am so happy to find your article. My daughter and I suffer from this problem. I’ve noticed that over the last two years it has become worse. If I see any disgusting imagines I get angry and I want to hide or run. Sitting here today I decided to try to find out if I was going crazy because I have never heard of this,
to my surprise I’m not alone.
I can’t believe that there is actually a name for the very thing that gives me goose bumps! I always felt I was a freak of nature. While I very much relate to the article as well as the posters before me but I have to admit, I take it a step further. When I see images of holes, clusters etc. I feel the need to destroy them. I usually refer to it as “mutilating” but I’m not as sadistic as the word would suggest. I’ll give an example. My sister was cooking Cornish game hens one day and she had placed them upside down in order to allow it to drain. I noticed that the tips of the drum sticks where the feet had been cut off, there were folds of skin at the edges of the bone that looked. much like a honeycomb staring back at me. I took a paring knife and basically mutilated the skin so that the “honeycomb” folds of skin were basically cut and became one gaping hole. As I write this, my skin is crawling and I have goose bumps all over. I wish there were some way to overcome this!
wow. THIS IS ME! Mutilating the object that is so disgusting you just HAVE to do something to make it go away. Its as if its, soooo annoying you cannot take it. you HAVE to do something about it. I have done this to all kinds of things. Yesterday? It was the icky leg looking things that grow from old potatoes. I FREAKED. HAD to mutilate them. had to get rid of the potatoes. Once they were off and gone, the potatoes were “normal” again.
Ah, I have this same problem! I’m quite squeamish at the sight of potato spuds, clusters of little sugar ants, the little seeds inside of a bell pepper, and also those awful frogs with the seeds in their backs! EW is right!
OMG SOMEBODY AGREES WITH ME ABOUT THE SEEDS IN PEPPERS! I’ve had this ever since i can remember, just the sight of all the little seeds close together makes me gag.
The sight of seeds in peppers actually infuriate me and I literally have to attack them ! My daughter is the same, my husband thinks we are both odd, so it’s great to know this is actually a thing other people experience.
Another thing that gets us riled up is that image that is always coming up on the web of the girl who has been kneeling on peas !
Finally Someone Who gets it!! I swear I’ve been made fun of my entire life about the pepper seeds! I can’t handle them I literally like spaz and flick them all out!
Also, the imagine of the womans breast that says strange creatures growing in ladys breast. That picture makes me have a panic attack and it’s always on Facebook! >.<
Yes i always see that picture…i get grossed out by anything piled together. Goose bumps, Chills, Itching, Exceeded Heart Rate, Geels as if my skin is crawling….i just want to destroy whatever it is that makes me feel that way….i really wish there was a cure…it sucks to go through everyday life with this Phobia
I always had a n uncomfortable itching feeling whenever I saw holes or clusters and segments. I immediately start itching and feel light headed. I recently received an image of hyperdontia – a mouth full of teeth in symmetrical patterns. The teeth grew on the palate and formed an image of bumps or clusters. I since cannot forget the image and feel physical ill when it pops into my head. Is it going to cure me to look at similar images or what should I do?
Holy shit someone gets it. I got hives recently and they’re fucking disgusting, and after I got home from the hospital my sister tagged me in a picture of it. I literally wanted to punch/stab/break the entire thing. It looks ducking disgusting.
the teeth thing. FREAKS ME OUT. Hate missing teeth. Hate rotting teeth. Hate holes where teeth belong. Felt like I needed to destroy a picture of how they do that thing with the teeth, putting a fake one in? Drilling into the skull to put a screw? Putting a tooth over the top!? NASTY. When I get like that? to that point? its time for Xanax. It will upset me still? But I wont want to destroy it.
Im not alone! Thank god, I thought I was just being weird. Today my bf was looking on google earth at Argentina and I just felt physically ill after some of the landscape pictures. Also dry desert cracked ground give me the chills…I wish there was some way to get over this. I’m still nauseous
I have known that Trypophobia was a real thing for a while now, but for several years I just knew certain things made me feel horrible. I experience intense fear, nausea and itchyness. If something is particularly disturbing, especially associated with natural products as opposed to man-made products such as human or plant flesh then I even begin to feel very upset – actually emotionally effected. It really annoys me when certain articles claim that Trypophobia is non-existent. They seem to think that these images are just disturbing to everyone and it isn’t irrational at all – while I do understand that the images are not nice, I believe that there is definitely a problem when you can’t take your eyes off a decaying brick wall that you’re stood next to and nobody else even notices it!! Also, I don’t think it’s just about holes either, I think the main problem is clusters: Have a look at Hyperdontia for example (if you dare..). A disorder when people have too many teeth. Not a hole in sight but brings about exactly the same irrational feelings. I definitely think this phobia should be medically recognized. As I get older it seems to get worse and I can only hope that it remains manageable.
Oh my goodness–last night my husband and I were eatin crawgish and I happen to look down, after almost peeling the hull back, and the boiled crawfish had look to be hundreds of eggs attached!!! I threw it down and jus started to scream and my body started itching and I was just filled with a feeling of weakness and im not sure how to explain–but I woke up later last night and couldnt sleep thinking about it!! Same thing happens when I see frog eggs or ant piles or any kind of clustered things! HELP ME
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooI too suffer from trypophobia but I thought this would be funny;)
My twin sister and I suffer from trypophobia. We literally get goose bumps and a painful chill down our spines. Argghhhh! It sucks!
My Trypophobia also gets worse as I get older. The hyperdontia picture also triggered an immense attack and I since see clusters and holes in everything. As I am typing this message my skin crawls and my scalp is itching. My family and friends do not understand. Wish I could take a pill to manage this phobia! It really sucks.
I hate it too. Its getting worse as I get older. I talk about this and it makes my skin crawl. I want to scratch at my scalp, I want to scratch at my skin. and yes, I am a picker. Makes it that much worse…when you cant even get away from your OWN skin that has these nasty imperfections on it.
I am so relieved by this post. Things like those make me violently shiver. I gag and retch, my whole body feels weak and contracts. I can’t even read, say, or type the names of the things that look that way. I feel the need to scrape my tongue and eyes, and scrub at my skin. It’s very intense for me.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one! I feel physically sick and it ruins my life. Especially things unnaturally growing on another thing. Yuk!
Thank you for this article:) do you have any advise about dealing with this? I get goosebumps, shiver (or even shake all over) and get itchy everywhere. Sometimes it helps to blast music and trying to get my mind blank, but do you have any more effective ways to deal?
Today is the first day that I have ever know that my fear/phobia is a real thing. I feel so free, and ABSOLUTELY conclude. Thank you SO MUCH for not posting a trigger (as most of the tryphobia sites do), as it is so enlightening to hear someone write about the same things as me. I also have quite a strong reaction to things that resemble holes, bumps etc. Like the inside of a cut-open pomegranate, or papaya seeds also gross me out, I don’t even really like cauliflower or broccoli that much. I could NEVER look at the link you posted, I wouldn’t last one second (I have to hold my hand up as the pages load, while I’m learning about trypophobia). I’d actually quite know what to do about it, exposure therapy would DESTROY me, and I really do feel quite physically ill when I see triggers! Thank you for sharing
Thinking about wierd think hair coming out of my face creepa me out. I saw it in a dream one day. I couldn’t express the feeling and anxity attack i get thinking about a thick hair growing out from my chin. Is it tryphobia?
I have this same issue. Big Black heads on other people make crazy. Also weird patterns and patches of hair growth parts of the body that shouldn’t have that type of hair. Once saw a man with a hickey that looked like a finger print from the small wrinkles in his skin. I still loose it when I think about it.
I always knew I couldn’t handle these things but I never knew that other people have it too! When I was 8 I discovered it when I had chicken pox and I would squeeze the clusters and cover them with band-aids. Now I vomit, get itchy, goosebumps, have a crying episode, cry some more, shiver and get very angry and start hitting things. I tried exposure but that was a terrible idea. I don’t know what else to try. Help!
i don’t know if it counts as trypophobia but i cannot cut papaya because of the nasty, black seeds, which remind of larvae or fish eggs. I just can’t!! omg i getting chills.. ugh
I cannot believe I am reading this!!! I just saw an image on fb that triggered a reaction… A reaction I have lived with my whole life!!! I thought it was just me and nobody understands what the hell I’m talking about… Except my son who suffers with this weird aversion to ‘holey things’ too. Everything as u described… Aero bars, wasp nests, some animals, even things like onion bulbs separating neatly can trigger a response that feels like the hairs all over my body are standing on end and my head and face get itchy. I’ve seen the same frog doco with the baby’s… I was beside myself!! Scratching and squirming like mad!!! I thought it was just me… Oh and I also get it with cooked/steamed rice!!!
Clusters of holes or raised bumps and spots absolutely freak me out and knock me sick.
Literally an hour ago, I came across a picture someone had linked on Facebook that sent me into an epic freak out session…even now I still feel sick.
Think my fear stems from a number of years back when I was on holiday in the Caribbean with my family.
In hot weather, I tend to suffer from prickly heat but normally the spots are small in number and spaced about in various locations on my body.
This one year, I suffered really badly and both of my hands were covered in huge clusters of the spots and very swollen. I was absolutely horrified at the sight of them and since then my fear has steadily worsened.
Mine started when I first watched the mummy. The part where the bugs crawl under the skin and kill you got me bad. That part of the movie still pays in my mind. Anytime someone has big bumps under their shin or clusters of bumps I get chills and can’t look at them. Anyways glad to know I’m not the only one.
I had to look this up today because of the new pic going around on fb which is a hoax & photoshopped but I can barely stop checking to make sure it’s not happening to me! I’m so glad someone else gets this too. I am a chef, and I have visceral reactions when faced with whole papaya, crab egg, even eggs sometimes when they bubble a bit at the edges. So grosses me out. And in a craft store my son ran up to me with a lotus pod, shaking it…. My husband had to walk my son away & leave him with my older daughter in another part of the store while I had a full blown panic attack, which ended with me crying in the truck with the air blasting & going home for a pill. Just no…
Omg yesss. That same pic has led me to google if I am just crazy or this is a legit fear. I have been freaked out all day with itching & goosebumps. I want to pull my hair out. And I can’t sleep. Id go on but why.
Hello, you guys have no idea how relieved I am to find others like me. I have always suffered from feeling sick at the sight of things like roots growing from plants, potato sprouts, weird seeds… The hoax pic going round tipped me over the edge last night. There were tears, I am covered in goosebumps even thinking of it now, and still feel really disturbed by it. Does anyone know how to stop this? My family think I’m irrational and that it’s all a bit funny but it is affecting me to the point where I feel emotional and actually disgusted by things like potato sprouts.. (Just had another set of shivers up my spine and fresh goosebumps…) eugh eugh eugh!!! Don’t even get me started on lotus pods…
My husband made fun of me because I literally was so upset about this same photoshopped picture and ever since then I can’t stand to look at clusters and for some reason corn yes corn hehe gives me the same reaction I feel like I’m so ridiculous but im glad im not the only one!
This is a real fear!
There are two viral posts going around Facebook that is really so disgusting and nasty and it has been two days of me itching and getting extremely stressed about it. The worst trigger for me (which happened to be those two posts) are clustered holes anywhere on the body. They send me into painful shivers and goosebumps, with my scalp continuously itching and me wanting to peel off my entire skin. The images are imprinted on my mind and keep popping up all day, which makes my reaction to it even worse.
I hope Facebook does something about these posts, especially the nasty photoshopped one on the nipple and the one on the scalp. It’s disturbing and I cannot stress how deeply unsettling it is. Maybe I have a really bad reaction to it and I’m glad this article confirms that a lot of people feel the same.
And to those posting those photos on Facebook, fuck you and I hope you get those nasty clustered holes in your body for the rest of your sorry life.
I share your disturbance as well on the same image as well and i am so angry that some of my friends have unwittingly shared it around. Although my condition is not as bad as yours, I get a lot of goosbumps for the past few days, weird imaginations, and the most crazy part of all, rather than avoiding it zealously, i have been uncontrollably looking at these images on the net. This is actually quite unprecedented for me in my 41 years. I hope that this would go away in the next week or so, if not, i think i may need professional help.
HOPE KARMA GETS THEM BIG TIME FOR MAKING MILLIONS OF FOLK ILL SICK IN THE HEAD WHO EVER THOUGHT THESE PHOTOS UP GLAD IAM NOT ALONE MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS THINK ITS FUNNY BUT I DONT
Since I was little, everytime I see a tree pulled out of the ground, leaving a gaping hole, I feel ill. It tends to be holes in nature, ripped out of what should be a “natural setting” that set me off.
The birdseye maple pattern on my bookcase really did it for me when I was 7. I though I was a freak. And I just saw a photo of a dog infested with ticks all over its ears and face yet it was oddly symmetrical. My hair is still standing on end.
Yes me too. It’s been really strong the past couple of weeks but sometimes it’s almost anything 3 dimensional. I was driving down 95 South here in Miami and the lane I was in had huge bumps or plates of concrete that were not even. I usually take the express lane but we got on too late so we were in the regular lanes. Those bumps freaked me out SO bad I got off of the next exit. I kept saying: “What the hell is this???” My wife was like: “What? What’s what?” I even googled 95-South Dade County Construction to see if ANYONE complained about it. Every since then I have to really focus when I look and fight to stay calm because when I glance at the apartment buildings outside…..yep. The windows of the building. Hundreds of black boxed holes. Itch city. The paisley design carpet at the Casino today….itch city. Even weirdly just looking around the living room. The 3 dimensional nature can make me itch. HELP!!!! PLEASE!!!! I thought it was some Vivarin I took 2 weeks ago!
This has been a problem for me since I was a child. Like the most recent post-ers, the hoax images on facebook recently have really set me off. The chills, anxiety, tingling, itching, inability to breathe, you name it. I’ve had a really challenging time explaining my phobia to my boyfriend, he thinks I’m over reacting, and if I show him an image, he thinks they’re gross, but that’s about it.
Does anyone else get obsessive/intrusive thoughts after they’ve seen an image? No matter how much I know it’s going to trigger me, and I try to talk myself out of thinking about (literally, outloud talking and yelling at myself) I cannot keep the image out of my head and prompts a whole new attack.
There was a time when I was driving on the highway and ended up behind a flatbed carrying pipes of different sizes. I had to pull over.
It’s a horrible phobia, and it really can be triggered at any time. Glad we all have a forum and a place to feel normal and understood!
This is very interesting to me – but I have the exact opposite reaction! I can’t stop looking at patterns of holes when I seen them – especially in skin, whether natural or photoshopped. I find them absolutely fascinating. How weird is that? Anyone ever here of this other side of the coin?
I knew I wasn’t the only one to cringe seeing things like the cluster of seeds in a pepper (capiscum) or pimples or pock marks on faces or moon craters or fish eggs. Now I just saw a TV ad by Tic Tac and they showed human lips made up of clusters of Tic Tacs and it just set me off – scratching my head and skin. Horrible!
So does anyone else feel this way when they see tree roots growing in the cracks of something like a cobblestone path?
This and that stupid lotus seed pod picture on Facebook have been my two main triggers. I get itchy all over and just very unsettled.
I didn’t realize so many others have this problem too. Mine involves teeth as well as clusters and holes and a few oddities. I see lots of sufferers but no solutions. Are there any out there?
I think mine may be worse than anybody else on here. I can’t stand the sight of athletic shoes with a hole/mesh design. I can’t eat tomatoes, squash, peppers, or zucchini without “attacking” or removing all of the seeds. If I swallow something with a seed I imagine that vegetable growing in my stomach. I have nightmares that I am throwing up seeds and can’t stop. I can’t stand the sight of a corn cob once the corn has been cut off of it. Loose gravel under a cracked sidewalk bothers me. What I find intriguing is that most of you stated itching. Mine is more of a nausea and can’t get the thoughts out of my head. I also wonder ages on here. I am 42 and mine got worse in my late 30’s.
Also cant get the thoughts out of my head. My first reaction normally is to feel a chill running from my scalp down to the rest of my body. Im 55. Had it since childhood and so do my two sisters. It is getting worse with age I fear. It helps to tell myself that it is only seeds, or logs or whatever triggers me at the time. It also helps to avoid looking at pictures or patterns although when I suffer an attack I tend to see it everywhere (patterns on upholstery, mesh on shoes, holes in my computer, my vacuum cleaner, even the keypad on my Blackberry) Freaky. But for now Im good.
This is me I picture it growing inside me I want to rip my skin off and it’s mainly about corn like you said! I feel like I’m just weird my family thinks I am
I am reading some of these comments I can totally relate. For I long time now I have found clusters of holes, spots and bumps really disturbing especially un-natural things growing on people as well as eggs on a leaf, I don’t know why but it makes my itch from head to toe. Along with my kids I suffered their chicken pox its so hard to ignore of forget, I was on facebook a few years ago and there was a picture of a breast with holes in it with something which looked like worms or maggots crawling out of it and too this day it still bothers me and I have had many sleepless night unable to get the images out of my head I thought that I was the only person who had this problem I really feel that it affects my life and it seems to be getting worse the older that I get….HELP
I can relate. Sick people that posted those horrible need so help. I feel like it affecting my peace of mind,I will be praying for calm for us!!
I have been seeing those Facebook images in my head every since someone shared those Shampoo Hoax on my wall. My skin itches, anxiety has been terrible. keep checking my back for that image. My flesh crawls. Please don’t google images because it is so disturbing. Lord Help me!! I am freaked out.
I’m NOT CRAZY! Thank you for this. I thought it was just me. And like you, those darn frogs with the holes in their backs is the first time I remember really snapping over holes. I was a teenager at the time. Eeeeewwww ew ew ew.
OH GOD! I thought I was the only one. Mine started in my sophomore crafts class and we were assigned the project of creating a picture made up of pieces of paper swirled together to make little holes or circles. A girl in my class came in and cried because she couldn’t do the project and I didn’t understand why. I turned the paper up so the holes were facing me and I instantly got chills and dropped the paper and everything else I acquired on the floor. Then going into frequent shakes, the agony was horrible! I can’t stand to look at strawberries, or patterns on my school walls. I had a pair of shoes with a design on them and after coming home that day I took them STRAIGHT to Goodwill. All my friends think I’m crazy.
Okay, so about a month ago I saw the Facebook posting for a supposed shampoo that caused a condition, which, in reality was a photoshopped lotus seed pod on a person’s back. I stared at it and had to keep going back to it day after day.
Since then, I have had this aversion to clusters of holes. Not ALL holes…only certain ones set me off. I’m not sure if I have trypophobia or not because I’m not sure I would describe my feelings as a “fear”.
Like somebody above posted, I get ANGRY!!! I have to DESTROY the thing (I’m not a violent person). A couple of recent examples are:
My daughters found a yellow jacket’s nest in our driveway. It was empty and had nothing but holes. I made them kick it out to the street for me. But later, I had to go out to the street and when I saw the nest, I had to STOMP on it to get rid of it.
Another time, there was a piece of loofah (scrubbing sponge) on our bathroom floor, which was nothing more than netting…but it WAS a clump of “circles”. I had pick it up and rip it to shreds!
When I closed my eyes, I see circular scabs on skin (haven’t seen pictures of that, I just envision it in my own head).
So, can someone tell me if I have trypophobia? It is not really a “fear” but rather a STRONG feeling resembling ANGER at that the thing with the holes and not ALL holes, just certain ones. And it has only happened very recently…since seeing the photoshopped lotus seed pod on someone’s back. HELP!!
Emotional responses to fear can be very personalized. Some people get a thrill out of it, adrenaline junkies etc. Others shut down, others attack… etc. Having done some research on fear and phobias it’s interesting how these things get ‘triggered’ somewhere along the way. I suffer from trypophobia, it started in my early twenties and has slowly gotten worse. I recently discovered that my sister shares the same phobia. So, are genetics at play here? Nature/nurture? I’m currently studying psychology, and I’ve become very interested in learning about biochemical reactions such as these in our brains. However much we’d like to pop a pill to solve every emotional problem, I’m actively trying out other methods such as desensitization, meditation, acupuncture etc. I see this as a ‘mind over mind’ problem. I think one of the hardest things humans face is escaping from their own cognitive neurosis. I’m going to try to conquer mine.
Omg someone finally agrees!!! I just seen a picture of hyperdontia on Facebook and about lost it!!! I got extremely frustrated and cannot stop scratching!!! Reminds me of when I was in the second grade and I seen clusters of holes under a sea shell and had to get sent home. It freakin discusses me ugggggggggh! I don’t understand how looking at it will help me, why does stuff like this have to be created???? I am freaking out..
If anyone is suffering from trypophobia check out this video on YouTube on havening, it really helps curb the cure! I went from a 10 (being the worse) to a 4. Hope this helps!!! http://youtu.be/a47YBeDAnnw
The same thing triggered me too, the frogs with babies hatching from its back. And Lotus seed pods send me into anxiety. I hope to concur it one day. But, it does not officially interfere with my daily life.
This fear…..not fear, obsession with that shampoo hoax has been going on for a week….ever since I saw it on fb. I think I will try not to look at it everyday but for some reason I can not do that….it is driving me crazy.
I don’t know why but it pops up from time to time on Facebook. It’s spam or something but it shows it on skin. Pretty sure it’s photo shopped but it has me really fucked up. It’s like a screenshot in my brain and I see it all day. It just started happening but it’s freaking me out and I don’t understand why. If it don’t correct itself I’m going to have to seek help.
frog babies on back. THANK goodness I have not seen this. I would lose it. I do however, want to mutilate barnacles, any kind of skin issue on my body or other peoples bodies, I freak over the entire idea of eggs or something else growing on a “host”. its disgusting and freaks me out. The lotus seed pods? They are old and dry and bigger holes? Don’t bother me much. Don’t know why. neither do bee hives. But other stuff? Makes me want to clench my fists and destroy stuff.
I’m shuddering right now while I’m writing. I didn’t know this typrophobia until earlier somebody shared a photo about it. I can feel all of my skin hair contracting @@ it’s totally gross!!
OMG I finally know what this is. THANK GOD
today at work a lady had like alot of liumps or cyst on her face i couldnt even look after that one time because i started itching real bad and i started breaking out
OMG I finally know what this is. THANK GOD
today at work a lady had like alot of lumps or cyst on her face i couldnt even look after that one time because i started itching real bad and i started breaking out
Thank God I came across this. I suffered severe depression and anxiety back in 2011-2014 and since then things like honeycomb, beehives, lotus pods and even the seeds on the inside of a honeydew melon or a pumkin make me go into a fit.
If I see it on a screen I get so angry and want to just punch and rip it to shreds, occasionally I cry if it’s too much lol. I can’t De-seed pumpkins at Halloween without literally smashing my fist into the seeds and feeling incredibly uncomfortable and panicky.
At least I know I’m not weird and this is a real thing, even just the thought right now is making me solo uncomfortable, but knowing I’m not the only one makes it that bit easier
I don’t know but I’m the opposite. ..weird I know. I like seeing the clusters of holes like I would want to take anything out if there was something..I find it crazy facinating. .I wonder if there is a word for my crazyness.
Hey guys. May you be well and at peace. Without going into detail because I wouldn’t want to trigger anyone. I’m having an episode right now that’s pretty intense. I also suffer from a mental illness, so I attribute some things to me having a chemical imbalance. I try to use my coping skills like meditation and breathinge exercises. And if those don’t work and I’m in a state of agitation, I call my doctor. Maybe she will prescribe some anti anxiety meds to give some relief. I wish you all peace and wellness. Much love.
I’ve gotten uncontrollable itching and anxiety from organic clusters of things growing on living beings since I was in the second grade and saw clusters of barnacles on humpback whales. It’s only gotten worse over time.
Just the other day I was streaming anime with my friend on a fansub site with ads (which I should not have seen because I use an adblocker and script blocker) when all of a sudden two clickbait images appeared under the video: 1) a lotus pod with larvae looking things in it with the tagline of something like “You won’t believe what some people are afraid of! Click here!” and 2) patches of prickly black hairs on the top of a white man’s head advertising hair regrowth. I was on voicechat at the time and just about screamed into the microphone as I started to have a minor panic attack. Then I found out that for some reason my script blocking extension had been uninstalled (which is why I had seen the ads in the first place), and wanted to get up and start throwing things and curse. It was absolutely disgusting and made my skin crawl even for the split second that I saw it.
Even sitting here right now recalling what I saw is making my skin itch on my hands and arms and the back of my head. The Internet thinks that this phobia is a joke. It’s not. It’s a horrifying always lurking MONSTER creeping in the background waiting for the right trigger to appear to set its sufferers off into panic attacks.