Those who think that they have a certain type of phobia have been urged to take a simple test.
While having a phobia of things such as heights or spiders is arguably pretty common, there are many phobias out there that don't usually spring to mind.
This certain phobia only surfaced to scientists in 2013, but it is now estimated that 10 percent of people in the world experience it, though those who first identified the condition blame the internet and the power of social media for fuelling it further to the public.
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Researchers at the University of Essex found that people were more likely to have the phobia if they heard of the condition online, or perhaps seen it in their sweet treats.
The phobia in question is called 'trypophobia', and is known as the fear of small holes - if you get the creeps from looking at honeycomb, you could be suffering from this.
Boffins over at the aforementioned university carried out a study surveying 283 people aged between 19 and 22 to check their levels of trypophobia, using a predetermined test.
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Participants were shown images of a lotus seed pod and honeycomb, two things that are said to trigger trypophobia.
They were then asked 17 questions of the standard Trypophobia Questionnaire, where they had to rate how strongly they felt different emotions and reactions on a scale from one to five.
Some of these include 'feel sick or nauseous', 'feel skin crawl' or 'feel like panicking or screaming', among others - though the results of a participant feeling like they had the phobia because they had read about it before supports the idea that it's a socially learned fear.
If you think you might have it, scroll down to take the test.
The name itself was invented on the internet instead of by scientists, and it still isn't a medically recognised condition, despite being spread through news articles and through online platforms.
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Researchers found that aversion to images of holes were more common among women and young people that spend more time on social media.
In fact, 64 percent of participants had heard of trypophobia through the internet.
Lead researcher Dr. Geoff Cole attributes the majority to the internet, revealing that 24 percent of people who had the condition hadn't heard of it before, meaning that a minority could be getting this fear from elsewhere.
There are three theories suggested behind the phobia:
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Aposematism theory - this points out the similarity between hole-y patterns and dangerous animals that sport similar patterns on their bodies.
Pathological theory - this compares it to skin disease, which can cause defects in the skin that look similar to trypophobic patterns.
Vision stress theory - this suggests an evolutionary defence, with trypophobia serving no real purpose, and is caused by the brain being overwhelmed by stimulus.
The brain may struggle to handle these patterns well, causing distress.
The Trypophobia Test
Look at the two images above of a honeycomb and a lotus seed pod and read through the list of statements below.
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Rate the statements from one to five, with one being 'not at all' and five being 'extremely', and tally up your score at the end.
Though not an official diagnosis, this test can aid research. A score of 31 or more is usually associated with trypophobia.
Looking at these pictures I...
- Feel freaked out
- Feel aversion, disgust or repulsion
- Feel uncomfortable or uneasy
- Feel like panicking or screaming
- Feel anxious, full of dread or fearful
- Feel sick or nauseous
- feel nervous (e.g. heart pounding, butterflies in stomach, sweating, etc.)
- Feel like going crazy
- Have an urge to destroy the holes
- Feel itchiness
- Feel skin crawl
- Have goosebumps
- Feel like crying
- Vomit
- Get chills
- Have trouble breathing
- Shiver
Topics: Science, Social Media, Weird
Joshua Nair