Ads for this season of 'American Horror Story' are giving people panic attacks - here's the science behind it

An advertising campaign for the new season of "American Horror Story" has been giving people panic attacks with its disturbing, hole-covered imagery, and the underlying cause is a rare but intense feeling of disgust that scientists are still trying to figure out.

Trypophobia, this fear of clustered holes, bumps, and similar patterns, affects around 15% of the general population. 

Some researchers think that the fear is an evolutionary instinct ingrained in humans to avoid dangerous, hole-covered formations in nature, like bee-hives or other poisonous structures. 

In this season of "American Horror Story: Cult," actress Sarah Paulson's character suffers from trypophobia, and as CNN notes, her overwhelming fear in the first episode of holes in her souffle and a piece of coral in her therapist's office has also affected viewers with the same condition.

One woman, Jennifer Adresen, told CNN that she had a "full-blown panic attack" with nausea upon seeing the show's promotional posters for the first time. 

Many people have since taken to Twitter to complain about the show's preoccupation with holes as a triggering mechanism. Some have even diagnosed themselves as having trypophobia. 

"American Horror Story: Cult" airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on FX.

NOW WATCH: A popular 'Game of Thrones' fan theory says Bran is the Night King - here's why