The Holiday Season Can Be a Nightmare for Those with Misophonia.
Lottie anticipates being with her family over the holidays, but says a primary method she'll endure is by wearing her earplugs - especially during the holiday meal.
For her, the holidays often feels like a especially challenging time as the auditory triggers of family members munching, slurping and breathing heavily cause her extremely uncomfortable.
"I get this sensation of sudden panic, my entire being will just tighten and it feels like I'm in peril, and I need to somehow control these noises."
The individual has suffered from misophonia from a young age and for her that makes the Christmas time "deeply taxing".
Misophonia is a decreased threshold to certain sounds, especially noises made by individuals.
It's surprisingly common across the population. Researchers found nearly 20% people experience it.
Often it's noises associated with eating or drinking that lead to discomfort, including examples such as chewing, breathing, and foot tapping.
Triggering Stress
She explains: "I face so many different triggering sounds at Christmas and that can be anxiety inducing and make you dread it.
"My family are understanding, but I'm very conscious that I don't want to spoil the mood. It's like a really big battle of sacrificing my own sanity to make sure the event goes smoothly."
So it's clear why the traditionally happy season can transform into a stressful ordeal for sufferers.
Triggers that may be considered normal, like someone sipping a beverage, opening presents, or tucking into a Christmas dinner can trigger a visceral feeling that can even result in them avoiding social settings altogether.
The student, a 21-year-old student, who has dealt with sound sensitivity since aged 10, explains the approach she intends to use is to listen to music to get through dinner. On any other day, she would usually isolate herself in a quiet area to escape distressing triggers.
She says her condition is more intense around people she's most comfortable with, so the holidays is always "hard".
"People assume you to be around family, and I wish to, but it's physically and mentally challenging.
"The sensation is this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel stressed and begin to weep and then fight-or-flight will kick in.
"To others it appears as if I'm being oversensitive and dramatic, but it's tough to describe unless you've experienced it."
Several Strategies to Manage
If it's an issue then there are a few methods you can use to handle the situation, as suggested by clinical psychologists.
- Picture a Different Scenario: Creative thinking is crucial. Work on connecting the specific noise causing distress with an unrelated image. So for example, try to envision someone's noisy drinking is just a sink draining water. The goal is to teach your brain that the sound affecting you is neutral.
- Use Humor: Use lightheartedness and make the irritating noise into a game with the culprit. For instance, if someone is crunching loudly attempt copying the noise. By mimicking, rather than feeling like the sound is being imposed on you, you become an engaged person. And the game aspect should help shift your attention and make you slightly more tolerant.
- Create a Scenario: Another technique is to try to invent a reason about the reason someone making the noise is behaving that way. For example if someone was sniffing, it could be that they're not at their best or maybe they're upset. This approach is altering the perception of the sound. Although the noise stays the same, your interpretation of it moves from being aggravating, to feeling a little more neutral about it.
