Trypophobia

Trypophobia is an aversion to the sight of repetitive patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps. It is not clinically recognized as a separate mental or emotional disorder, though it may fall under the category of specific phobia in cases where it causes excessive fear or distress, and sufferers often experience disgust as much as or more than fear when viewing trypophobic imagery. As of 2021 trypophobia was poorly understood by the scientific community; researchers have hypothesized it may be a biological revulsion causing the afflicted to associate the shapes with danger or disease, possibly with an evolutionary basis, and that exposure therapy may be a possible treatment. The term was coined by an anonymous member of an online forum in 2005 and has since become a common topic on social networking sites.