Among all the weird phobias known to man, this is one phobia that can really make your hairs stand. You must have surely seen images both false and true of dramatic diseases that make your hands or palms full of holes. Many of them turned out a hoax no doubt but there is no denying the fact that the image gave you the creeps.
Surprisingly though not everyone will feel the same and there are certain people, me for one who experiences a very weird feeling when seeing the type of image below. It’s the fear of seeing holes and imagining if it suddenly appeared on your skin. The fear of irregular holes is actually called tryptophobia.
You are not alone. 16% of people suffer from tryptophobia
You are definitely not alone. Several people suffer from the same phobia. There is no problem seeing a hole in the ground on water or anywhere at home but the eerie feeling of such type of holes on your body is as weird as it can get.
According to science, phobias evolved out of man natural reaction to avoid danger. However, for various groups of people, the perception of danger is undoubtedly different which is why it is not a generalized fear but a selective one, hence a phobia.
People suffer from countless weird phobias
There are some people who fear spiders, some snakes, some vehicles and some even venturing near water. There are countless phobias and to name them would run into pages. But what is odd is the fact that holes of images such as these cause a sensation of fear in people although they aren’t a disease or a living threat. In many internet images, the so called insect causing disease were photoshopped images of lotus plants, yet they creeped us out.
Those with an even more pronounced symptoms can go to the extent of experiencing dizziness, cold sweat, nausea and a preoccupation with the object.
The reason for tryptophobia
Science says our bodies have evolved with fear of objects to also fear infection and disease infectious diseases such as skin rash, eczema, boils and unexplained skin conditions that could cause circles on the skin. This could well have something to do with the fear of irregular holes or tryptophobia. This is the reason why some of us feel as if our skin is crawling with little organisms or we feel the urge to itch just by viewing the horrible image which makes us think we risk getting infected.
The term tryptophobia was first coined in 2005 from internet sources which were a combination of the Greek word for fear and holes. According to scientific fact, tryptophobia is now prevalent in 16% of people. Upon analysis it was found while some found clusters of holes scary and uncomfortable, others found that just the mere sight of such images made them shiver with fear.
Tryptophobia linked to human DNA
According to studies on tryptophobia, scientists found it was linked to human DNA to feel afraid of such patterns. The body feels fear upon seeing such images because the brain associates them with wounds and disease. One professor said it was because of priming and conditioning.
If you have tryptophobia, or the fear of irregular holes, then these images might have already zapped you to a point of feeling exceptionally weird and creepy.