Eli5 – what causes trypophobia to trigger the body

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I have trypophobia which is the fear of certain designs with holes in it. It causes me to start itc hing and i get a goosebump like feeling all over. Sometimes I also get the same reaction to glitchy audio. Can someone explain why this occurs? I read that maybe its a survival instinct but idk. Thanks in advance

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2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Trypophobia is not currently recognized as a real phobia. In fact research suggests people who [claim to suffer from it are actually disgusted by holes](https://peerj.com/articles/4185/#general-discussion), not afraid of them.

Now disgust does have features as an evolved response that aids our survival, rooted in avoidance of sick people and rotted food that can harm us. If the things that people say are triggering trypophobia are actually causing disgust then it is in a sense a survival instinct even if not a phobia.

Anonymous 0 Comments

i have an unnatural fear of glitchy audio/screens too. i dont know why. but to be fair, theres a bunch of other people in the world with crazy, unexplainable, wild fears. theres a phobia of almost anything you can imagine. phobias can be based off of a reason (childhood trauma, general trauma, bad experiences) or no reason at all. for phobias. that dont have a reason, my best guess is just that all brains are wired differently!