Some of the most common phobias that people suffer from are claustrophobia ( fear of closed spaces) agoraphobia ( fear of escaping from situations or spaces) , fear of heights or fear of insects and social phobia. Some of these are culture specific or influenced by a past unpleasant or dangerous experience. If phobias which cause problems that affect the personal, social and occupational functioning of a person then it calls for specific treatment like other anxiety disorders that phobias are a categorised under.
Trypophobia has not been classified as a phobia and so far has been a rare phobia is not widely known to significantly impair one’s social, personal and occupational functioning. However, this appears to be changing given the reported cases on the internet where people claim to have ‘panic attacks” after seeing disgusting pictures of holes on body parts. I myself have so far have seen and treated only one case of Trypophobia in my practice.
Our brain naturally associates certain shapes and images with danger. Small holes are also in an atavistic way associated with uncertainty .Our unconscious mind anticipates something disgusting or dangerous crawling out of these small holes and there is an automatic primitive response of fear and anxiety. Such anxiety can be severe in some cases where it evokes nausea, vomiting, palpitations or feeling something crawling under their skin.
Like all anxiety disorders, Trypophobia can be treated .Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is useful in treated such cases where the sufferer is taught to cope with situations where he or she may be exposed to tiny holes by altering their harmful thought processes.
Dr. Andrew Mohanraj 