Trypophobia - Anyone one else have it?

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RyanWreck

RyanWreck

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RyanstencH
"Trypophobia - Fear of unnatural and, occasionally, natural occurring holes and asymmetrical clusters."

Think lotus seeds. Think of the photos of the breast with holes in it floating around by e-mail forever (which can be found at Snopes under "breastrash.asp"). Yes, I know it is fake but still, yuck. Not because these things are "scary" or gruesome (I can browse theync all day) but it is disgusting looking, period. There are many fake lotus seed "disease" photos out there which I am sure some of you have witnessed, as well as one with strange clusters. I don't get it, but man....ugh. Seriously this stuff makes me 👎

Even these toads gross me out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCayq56wHSA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ7b4spjXhw

Anyone else have this weird phobia? It only bothers me on living creatures though. I am completely fine when I see honey combs, pot-marks, sponges, real lotus flowers, etc. Just when it is projected upon humans and animals.
 
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I feel sick at the thought of anything being under the skin or emerging from it. So much so that this will probably be my last visit to this thread.
 
You mentioned honey combs... Just looking at a honeycomb makes me feel ill, I don't know why. They are just so horrible for me to view! :sick:
Also like Mark T said, the thought of those things that can be born under your skin after a fly putting it in you. YUCK!
 
God, the breast image and any images with those asymmetrical holes in any animal skin, being it rational or non rational, make me seriously sick. It's like I have bugs circulating my body. :scared:

Even on plants I find it extremely unpleasant.
 
I imagine it's just an instinctive reaction.. we know that such things are unnatural, and our natural reaction to that is disgust and a desire to get away from it in the interest of self-preservation. I wasn't aware there was an actual phobia of things like that.

It's interesting that we can look at pictures like that and be incredibly disturbed by it, but that I can look at pictures of spiders all day long without a problem (I'm arachnophobic).
 
Jedi2016
It's interesting that we can look at pictures like that and be incredibly disturbed by it, but that I can look at pictures of spiders all day long without a problem (I'm arachnophobic).
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Depends on whether you're scared of the sight of a Spider, or having one crawl up your arm. In your case it's probably the latter.
 
I think you should remove that link from your first post. I realize you're proving a point but normally it violates the AUP, is utterly disgusting to look at, and is fake anyway.

I'm not so sure it's worthy of being called a phobia frankly. It seems like a perfectly legitimate fear to me. I'd say the vast majority of people in the world would be fairly disgusted at any of the things you mention. Does most of the world have an irrational fear of creepy crawlies under their skin?

Now, things that aren't living, like honeycombs and sponges, that sounds pretty irrational and worthy of its own phobia.
 
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I'm just like you. I saw that image on snopes a long time ago and even though I knew it was fake, I had the urge to just rip and tear at it to make it go away.

I also can't stand to think of something in or on my skin, and just the sight of miasis (sp?) images or video's makes me scratch all over. I fear if I ever got something like that I'd tear my own flesh apart just to get it all out.

I didn't know there was an actual term for it though, atleast I know I'm not alone. :lol:
 
Don't think I will ever be able to look at anything Lotus related without thinking about this lol.
 
I'm not sure I'm phobic about it, but I certainly find it kind of repulsive.
 
I would not consider it a real phobia but if I were a surgeon I would be pretty grossed out by the things I might come across.
 
Honey combs, lotus pods etc.... No

That disgusting picture.... eww Yes


Just a question to people who genuinely have this phobia (and not just by creatures living in your skin) do missile pods/clusters trigger it?
 
Personally I don't have this phobia. I can look at holes in plant life, pods, etc. I can also watch "bot fly" videos all day and that doesn't bother me. I was just bringing up the fact that there is a phobia like this and to an extant, when it comes to humans, I have show some "symptoms" of the phobia to a lesser extant.

Keef
I think you should remove that link from your first post. I realize you're proving a point but normally it violates the AUP, is utterly disgusting to look at, and is fake anyway.
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I wasn't aware that it broke any rules since I didn't post the image and I stated it was NSFW, but I will remove it if it is a problem. And yes, I know the picture is fake, that is not the problem. The image is flat-out disturbing.

I'm not so sure it's worthy of being called a phobia frankly. It seems like a perfectly legitimate fear to me....

Now, things that aren't living, like honeycombs and sponges, that sounds pretty irrational and worthy of its own phobia.
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Personally I don't think irrationality should be the deciding factor on what should be a phobia or not. I see a phobia as a persistent fear of a very specific object or activity which grosses you out and leads to the person trying to avoid it at all costs. It is rational to fear death yet we have Thanatophobia, the fear of dying, there is Pnigophobia which is the fear of "being smothered/choked", the fear of being Raped known as Virginitiphobia, which is a very rational and logical fear.
 
That picture is a bit car crash for me - it's gross, but I can't help but look at it :lol:
 
RyanWreck
I see a phobia as a persistent fear of a very specific object or activity which grosses you out and leads to the person trying to avoid it at all costs.
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You see a phobia almost exactly how it's defined, except you're missing the "irrational" part.

It is rational to fear death yet we have Thanatophobia, the fear of dying, there is Pnigophobia which is the fear of "being smothered/choked", the fear of being Raped known as Virginitiphobia, which is a very rational and logical fear.
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A typical medical definition of Thanatophobia calls it an "abnormal fear of death". Phobias often interfere with people's daily lives causing them to suffer greatly for a seemingly humorous reason. You would agree that calling into work sick every day because you're afraid of dying on the way there is certainly irrational, and that's why we have the term "phobia" to begin with, and a list of them miles long.
 
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PeterJB
Depends on whether you're scared of the sight of a Spider, or having one crawl up your arm. In your case it's probably the latter.
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Nope, it's the former. When I see a spider, my initial reaction is to leap out of my chair and get as far away from it as possible. Then I set about killing it, usually with far more vigor than is actually required. The only thing that allows me to get close enough to kill it is sheer willpower; my rational understanding being able to overpower my irrational fear, that I know it's an irrational fear, without basis, and that I'm under no real threat. But the fear doesn't go away until the spider does. Even after it's dead, my hands are shaking so hard trying to scoop it onto the flyswatter and carry it to the toilet or outside, that I usually drop it a couple times on the way. When one actually touches me, I go straight into outright panic, and you'd better not be standing between me and the door. Or anywhere near me, for that matter, what with the mindless flailing about trying to get it off.
 
I actually only discovered what this was called yesterday. Yes I've got it, although "fear" might not be the correct word.
 
Perfect Balance
I actually only discovered what this was called yesterday. Yes I've got it, although "fear" might not be the correct word.
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If you've got Trypophobia, then you're correct that "fear" isn't the right word.
 
Jedi2016
Nope, it's the former. When I see a spider, my initial reaction is to leap out of my chair and get as far away from it as possible. Then I set about killing it, usually with far more vigor than is actually required. The only thing that allows me to get close enough to kill it is sheer willpower; my rational understanding being able to overpower my irrational fear, that I know it's an irrational fear, without basis, and that I'm under no real threat. But the fear doesn't go away until the spider does. Even after it's dead, my hands are shaking so hard trying to scoop it onto the flyswatter and carry it to the toilet or outside, that I usually drop it a couple times on the way. When one actually touches me, I go straight into outright panic, and you'd better not be standing between me and the door. Or anywhere near me, for that matter, what with the mindless flailing about trying to get it off.
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You described me, although in my case it is insects too, not just arachnids. They just creep me out. Although strangely, crabs and lobsters do not trigger this.
 

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