Microphobia (Fear of Small Things): Symptoms & Treatment (2024)

FAQs

Microphobia (Fear of Small Things): Symptoms & Treatment? ›

Microphobia is an intense fear of small things, like germs and insects. Trying to avoid little things can lead to negative thoughts and behaviors that affect daily life. Symptoms worsen over time, but therapy can help you get better.

There's no cure for trypophobia, but there are steps you can take to manage your symptoms. Tell your doctor if your anxiety gets in the way of daily life. With exposure therapy or other mental health treatment, you can gain control of your trypophobia triggers.

Talk to a trusted friend or family member

If you have a friend or family member you feel confident will respond in a supportive way, it can often feel better to open up about what's going on. The act of talking about something can help reduce your anxiety levels and encourage you to get more support if needed.

Common treatments for this condition include: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): This therapy involves identifying the underlying thoughts that contribute to feelings of fear and then replacing them with more helpful, realistic ones.

Experts don't know why some people develop trypophobia. One theory is that the brain associates clusters of holes with danger. For example, you may associate a pattern of small holes with the skin of a venomous snake or the eyes of a tarantula. Or the holes may remind you of skin diseases or skin rashes.

Depending on an individual's situation and past treatments, a medical professional may prescribe certain medications to manage symptoms of trypophobia. Benzodiazepines (e.g., lorazepam or clonazepam) or other anti-anxiety medications may help prevent or reduce symptoms of anxiety or panic attacks.

Cole and Wilkins also stated that the level of disgust with trypophobia increases if the holes are on human skin. Writing in Popular Science, Jennifer Abbasi argues that emotional contagion within such social media groups may be responsible for some of the aversive reactions to such images.

What is microphobia treatment like? A common treatment for microphobia is exposure therapy. Your therapist exposes you to situations that trigger your fear of little things. Exposure therapy for microphobia may start with pictures of germs or other small objects.

Distract Yourself Into Happiness

Sometimes it's helpful to have a way to distract yourself with happy, positive, healthy alternatives. Things like mediation, dancing, exercise, learning an instrument, knitting, drawing, and painting can distance you from the issues enough to shut down the overanalysis.

What is the rarest phobia? ›

1. Arachibutyrophobia (Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth) Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. While the phenomenon has happened to everyone at one point or another, people with arachibutyrophobia are extremely afraid of it.

Introduction. Tomophobia refers to fear or anxiety caused by forthcoming surgical procedures and/or medical interventions.

Sciophobia: Fear of shadows. Textophobia: Fear of certain fabrics.

The term trichophobia comes from the Greek words that mean “hair” (trichos) and “fear” (phobia). A person who has trichophobia has a persistent fear of hair, particularly seeing or touching loose hairs on the body, clothing, or elsewhere. This fear can lead to a number of symptoms that may interfere with everyday life.

Fear of being in the darkness (nyctophobia) is sometimes called scotophobia or lygophobia. Nyctophobia itself is derived from the Greek word for night. As its name implies, those experiencing nyctophobia are afraid of the dark. It's a widespread phobia, especially in children.

What are the symptoms? If you have trypophobia, you'll generally notice feelings of disgust and discomfort when looking at an object or surface with small clusters of holes or shapes that resemble holes.

You may be able to get a numbing cream, spray or ointment to lessen your discomfort. Breathing and visualization exercises may also reduce pain. Use different language: Specific words such as “shot” may heighten your anxiety. Ask your care team to use words like “poke” if it helps lessen your symptoms.

Approximately 10–18% of the adult population experience some form of anxiety when viewing clusters of small holes. 'Trypophobia' has been the subject of much discussion within the peer-reviewed literature, news outlets, health-related websites and social media.

The most common specific phobia in the general population is fear of animals — particularly dogs, snakes, insects and mice. Other specific phobias are fear of closed spaces (claustrophobia) and fear of heights (acrophobia). Most simple phobias develop during childhood and eventually disappear.