The 'hole' truth...

Pssst! Want to know a secret? There's something altogether horrifying in my kitchen. I can't see it, but I know it's there, lurking in a drawer or maybe at the back of one of the cupboards. I don't know its location exactly as it remains hidden from my view otherwise even the briefest of glimpses provokes immediate revulsion. What is it? What could possibly cause such an extreme reaction? I'm warning you that the answer is as underwhelming as it is bizarre - it is...the cheese grater! I feel the same way about various other objects and phenomena: sponges, coral, magnified images of pores, crumpets, Aero chocolate, and one of the worst...lotus seed pods (*shudders).  They all hold the power to repulse me though I confess I do still love a toasted crumpet, I just have to close my eyes while eating it!

What do they all have in common? It's the holes, people, dear god - THE HOLES!!!

I am not alone in this holey dread and there's even a name for it - 'trypophobia' - loosely defined as a fear of or aversion to clusters of holes, bumps or patterns. It's not something I even knew was a thing until very recently and it is the only thing I can say I'm grateful to the Kardashians for; Kendall Jenner's admission that she finds closely packed tiny holes altogether terrifying made my irrational loathing seem less bonkers and possibly even 'on trend' (just humour me with this as I am unlikely to have anything else in common with a Kardashian and have never been on trend with anything in my entire life!) Still don't really believe it? Well, you might be surprised by Dr Geoff Cole, a psychologist at the University of Essex, who refers to it as “the most common phobia you have never heard of,” In fact, Cole goes so far as to even claim that “we all have trypophobia, just to different degrees”.

If that's true, then what the heck is this weirdness?

The name trypophobia (trypa from the Greek for punching or drilling holes and phobus for fear or aversion) isn't strictly accurate as for some people it is more than just holes. For the unfortunate few even bumps or patterns, such as the pips on strawberries or polka dots on a fabric, can trigger a physical reaction: shaking, fast heartrate, feeling that your skin is crawling, even nausea are common responses. It does not apply to all holes though - it has to be clusters of holes and, for me, a random pattern induces the most extreme response. I'm fine with honeycomb for example with its hexagonal regularity and the only fear induced by potholes is for the potential damage to my car's suspension! Then there's the word phobia as trypophobia is not officially recognised as such and for many, it's not a fear but more a feeling of revulsion or disgust. Weirdly, often this is mixed with a kind of horrible fascination too - I don't want to look but I have to! Just like watching a scary movie there's a certain invigoration or 'rush' that such a stimulus provokes (maybe there are just as many people who are the opposite - trypophiles if you will).

Image Credit: Chad Knight

It's this feeling of repulsion and danger that provides a clue to its possible origin. Some scientists believe that this aversion to holes is an evolutionary hangover or an unconscious survival instinct. Visually, highly contrasting patterns are often a mark of poisonous organisms and so this is an inherent response - part of the limbic brain's warning system to stay clear. If that sounds improbable to you then do a quick Google image search of a rattlesnake, blue-ringed octopus or a pufferfish and that should convince you! There is a pathological theory linked to the evolutionary one as well; many skin conditions and other diseases produce spots or lesions and so we are primed to pay attention to this kind of pattern; food that is not fit to eat or rotting will also develop holes or round mould spots that are just as alarming as the bad smell. Yuck!

Of course, the whole hole thing could be more a case of nurture rather than nature. Could trypophobics have been socially conditioned to feel afraid of holes? The wholesale sharing of such images on social media along with celebrity 'endorsements', self-diagnosis tests, memes and TikTok videos must have had an impact, but, personally, I think there must be something in the nature argument too. I guess there is no real way of knowing the hole truth.