Trypophobia – Are you afraid of bubble tea?

Do images of bubble tea make you uncomfortable? Lotus seed pods? Chia pudding? I met with a friend for breakfast the other day, and she told me that one of the main reasons why she does not like chia pudding is that she feels repelled by the pattern the chia seeds make. I knew exactly what she meant, because certain patterns of closely packed holes or bumps also make me feel disgusted. Sounds crazy I know, and that is why it is not something I would go around telling everybody. In fact, my friend N is the first person I shared this with. Though while it is still debated whether trypophobia -fear of holes- is indeed a real phobia, there is no doubt that there are a lot of us out there, who just don’t like those patterns.

My first trypophobia memory goes back to when I was about 7 years old, making hot chocolate. I remember how disgusted I felt from seeing burned milk in a pot (burned milk happened a lot that time during my initial cooking adventures). I get the same feeling when seeing a lotus seed pod filled with holes, or a glass of bubble tea as in the photos in this post, though except from feeling disgusted I do not experience any other symptoms. Apparently, some people experience symptoms similar to anxiety attacks, so I guess my trypophobia would be considered rather mild.

Out of curiosity, I am doing a poll on Instagram to find out how widespread trypophobia is among my Instagram friends. Will post the results here later.