Yeah, I think it’s related to parasite fears. Much like the story of the toad and tadpoles, and the ant story. I fear holes forming in my skin and having parasites crawl out of them. That’s probably why lotus boob (and lotus fingers) get me so riled up.
This is such a weird thing! I just found out it had a name a short time ago. I know a lot of people who have a problem with this stuff - it’s really bad for my one friend, to the point where it affects her whole life.
I don’t think I’m phobic, and most such things don’t bother me in the least (honeycomb [even with larvae in it), seed pods, straws, etc). But I’ve had nightmares about clusters of holes in the skin/flesh of living things, usually with bugs at the bottom, my whole life, and its one of the few things that makes me nauseous to think of. I’m not scared of bugs in general, though! Not even ticks and leeches.
Lotus boob is kinda gross, but not that bad. It’s so clearly fake.
Can I rezombify?
I agree with Kaio. I think it’s a combination of normal reactions of disgust and alarm which has then been kicked up a notch.
Beehives, wasps nests, and hornets nests all represent an immediate danger, as the insects will sting if they believe their home and larvae are threatened.
Botfly infestations, the Suriname toad, and the lotus-boob all imply parasitic infection, which is sure to spark a reaction of disgust, considering how it’s a sign of contagion and filth.
Disgust is a potent emotion in and of itself, one of the most basic and most strongly associated with evolutionary pressure. Alarm is sure to provide an adrenaline spike. Combine the two, and you have every reason to expect the brain to remember the perceived threat in a context of acute anxiety.
I’m surprised more of the population, like, oh, one hundred percent, doesn’t have this particular phobia.
I was just thinking about this phenomenon (and thread) today, because there’s something about the Guatemala City sinkhole totally squicks me out. It looks almost… biological.
For those of you who are wondering if you’re crazy because you’re afraid of holes… I’m terrified of spiderwebs. So in comparison, you’re perfectly normal.
Reminds me of a story - many years ago, when I was a carefree teen, I went camping with some friends of mine in a ravine near Toronto. Our brilliant idea was to drop lots of acid and then enjoy the night camping.
Unfortunately, we took the acid before fully setting up camp - meaning, when night fell, we didn’t have enough firewood. You really need a campfire to enjoy yourself, and the thought of doing without was too horrible, when tripping, to contemplate … so me and this friend of mine volunteered to collect firewood. In the dark. With flashlights.
Well, this friend of mine was really afraid of spiders and spiderwebs - a true phobia … I think you can see where this is going. While out in the dark, he stepped right into a spiderweb spun across the path. Being tripping, he didn’t know what it was exactly, but of course he feared the worst … in a voice on the verge of panic, he asked me to examine him with the flashlight.
Well, the front wasn’t so bad, just a few strands of web. I brushed those off. Then he turned around - and it was just like that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark (or at least, so it seemed to me - but then, I was tripping too!). His back (fortunately covered with a jacket) was covered in a mass of spiderweb-stuff, and an egg casing had obviously burst open, disgorging what appeared to be thousands of little spiderlings, all moving about in a writhing, churning crowd.
Meanwhile, he was saying in, a voice tight with fear, “is it okay? Is there anything there?”
I lied. I said, no, just a coupla strands of web, nothing to worry about … and best I could, I brushed it all away with my hand. I had the feeling that if I’d told the truth, he’d have cracked and run sreaming into the night .
I was so relieved to find out that I wasn’t alone in my weird aversion to clustered holes. The more organic/parasitic it looks, the worse, but even clearly manmade patterns kind of make me queasy.
I have used the imagery in a few horror stories I wrote, though, so the fear was useful for something! Maybe I should write a story about a giant Suriname toad…
…AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH.
I’m sorry if I’ve necromanced an old thread, but I thought it proper to just drop by and greet a bunch of my fellow tryptophobics (not that I know any of you, but it’s always nice to find a community of people who can understand what you’re going through). So, hi!
I joined a facebook group for tryptophobia, and got linked to an article about it (one of the very few, apparently), and a google search and some hotlink jumping brought me to this forum, which I instantly took a liking to not because of others suffering from the same condition as me, but because of the intelligent replies in it (i.e. not just OMG! you too? OMG! me too! screams).
Also, the ‘At what point does bread become toast’ thread was the dealbreaker for the forum sign up 
To add on to the old discussion, I must say that I couldn’t agree more with phouka. All fears, at the very least, are grounded in experience, and to an extent, this subjectivity is why some people have it and some people do not, though, ultimately, what drives such irrational fears to be manifested as a real issue, is probably a complex mix of psychological and neurological factors.
I do think that it’s inherently grounded in a fear of infestation, which is negative for obvious reasons. I noticed a lot of us- probably all- feel like immediately trashing, killing, stomping and particularly, burning, something with clustered holes. I guess it’s due to our evolutionary survival instinct kicking in and making us deal with this illogical threat (but our hypothalamus doesn’t know that) by driving us to ‘fight or flee’ from it- the flee part being automatic, where we turn away in disgust and close the browser and the fight part being the anger (yes! anger! no matter how fleeting it is) manifesting itself after coming to terms with the shock (biologically, a slow adrenaline reaction?).
Meh, perhaps I’ve rambled on enough. I’d like to share that i get freaked out by the following:
- drain catches
- lotuses (do NOT click on the lotus link in the article if you value your peace and sanity)
- papaya seeds
… and tons more I can’t think of now, but are most probably things you guys are freaked out by as well.
I realised I had this weird phobia when I was about 7 or 8. At that time, I was downright TERRIFIED of going into the toilet because looking at the drain catch was pure agony. I am the only one in my family and circle of friends with this… anomaly.
I basically got over my fear of the drain catch because, well, I couldn’t not go into the toilet, could I? So, basically I conditioned myself (for YEARS, mind you) so that my anxiety of the toilet’s… drain catch wasn’t too debilitating.
(on hindsight, that’s a pretty ridiculous statement…)
Oh yes, I do feel anxious (increased heart rate, difficulty catching my breath, etc) when I am exposed to clustered holes or dots or other clustered shapes. It was especially agonizing in microbiology class because I couldn’t stand to look at my cultures under the microscope… meh…
Welcomb aboard, fellow trypophobe!(Or is it trypophile?)
Please remember to pay your member fees at the front desk using large paper bills, and write your name in the ledger with one of our patented cube-shaped pens. Remember that if you have an “i” in your name, dotting the letter is forbidden!
Hey, welcome to the SDMB, cognizant.
One of the tough things about looking for information on this topic on the Internet is that most articles or sites seem to feel the need to provide an illustration of exactly what type of thing trypophobes are phobic about. I have learned my lesson and avoid reading articles on the topic online, and definitely will not open any images linked in threads like this one.
I have been working on overcoming my phobia with minimal success. It’s not like it really negatively affects my life that much, but it would be nice to, for example, cut open a papaya someday, or whatever. So far I haven’t made much progress, but I guess I’ll keep working on it.
Of course some things with clustered holes ARE dangerous… 
Yeah, I’m not opening that.
Hotlinking from designation-systems is NOT ALLOWED!
IME, (and I obviously can’t speak for everyone) agoraphobia doesn’t have a “revulsion” component. It’s not that the outside world is gross, but rather, threatening in some way. Like, if every time you opened your front door, there was a hungry lion on the other side.