All the phobias
The term of trypophobia was coined in 2005 by a Net user. The condition has retrieved scant attention from researchers. It's not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM IV), a book that provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association. But still, many people like Li say they suffer from this kind of fear.
Many people have even found joy in others' misfortune, and digitally altered pictures of the human body to cover them with holes or pods like those found on plants or coral. If somebody dares you to Google "lotus seeds on breasts" or "hollow fingers," don't do it, or you may decide you have trypophobia yourself.
Phil An, a 21-year-old college student, accidentally looked at one picture of human legs covered with densely patterned cysts, and threw up immediately. Knowing about his violent reaction, An's friends sometimes tease him and send him similar pictures.
Li thinks his trypophobia might come from his childhood, when he caught some tadpoles and kept them in a bottle. The next day they all died. "I was horrified to see all the dead, black tadpoles in the water," said Li.
Jian Lili, a psychiatrist, says she knows little about the generation mechanism of trypophobia. "It's not listed in acknowledged diagnostic criteria, and I haven't read any studies about it either," said Jian.
Geoff Cole and Arnold Wilkins, experts from the University of Essex from the UK, published a paper this year in the journal Perception positing that the phobia is based on biological revulsion, because trypophobia-inducing images share a basic visual property with poisonous organisms.
If you search "phobia" online, you'll find many strange new words - androphobia (fear of men), chorophobia (fear of dancing), coulrophobia (fear of clowns), decidophobia (fear of making decisions), erotophobia (fear of sexual love or sexual questions), gephyrophobia (fear of bridges), nomophoia (fear of being out of mobile phone contact), and even phobophobia (fear of having a phobia).
Almost anything can be the target of a phobia. Chinese people are having fun with making up words such as "camera-phobia," "foreigner-phobia," "Facebook-phobia" and "bus-phobia." Jiang Sha, 22, originally from Henan Province, says she got "populated-sites-phobia" and "air-phobia" since she came to Beijing.
Controversial audition for 'rich blind date' -- being pretty is just not enough
Feedback
RSS
