Christmas Can Be a Nightmare for Misophonia Sufferers.
One young woman hopes for spending time with her relatives over the holidays, but admits a key strategy she'll cope is by relying on her earplugs - especially during Christmas dinner.
In her case, Christmas is a especially challenging season as the sounds of family members munching, drinking noisily and nose-blowing trigger profound anxiety.
"I experience this sensation of immediate anxiety, my every muscle will just freeze and it feels like I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to stop these triggers."
She has suffered from sound sensitivity since she was 16 and for her that makes the festive season "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is a reduced tolerance to particular auditory triggers, notably sounds coming from individuals.
The condition is widespread amongst adults. Researchers reported almost one in five people are affected by it.
Typically it's noises linked to mouth, throat or facial movements that cause distress, along with examples such as crunching, breathing, and repetitive finger tapping.
'Anxiety Inducing'
Lottie says: "I face so many different triggering sounds at the holidays and that can be anxiety inducing and make you fear it.
"My family are aware, but I'm very conscious that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a internal conflict of managing my symptoms to guarantee the event goes smoothly."
So it's obvious why the supposedly joyous time of the year can transform into a living nightmare for affected individuals.
Noises that may seem harmless, like someone sipping a beverage, unwrapping gifts, or enjoying festive food can cause a powerful reaction that can even cause them withdrawing from gatherings.
The student, a 21-year-old student, who has experienced misophonia since aged 10, says her strategy is to listen to music to manage the meal. On any other day, she would often retreat in a separate space to minimize distressing triggers.
She notes her sensitivity is worse around people she's closest to, so the holidays is always "difficult".
"People assume you to spend time with family, and I desire to, but it's exhausting on all levels.
"The sensation is this sudden rage takes hold, which can feel embarrassing, or I'll feel anxious and burst into tears and then panic will kick in.
"It may seem as if I'm being difficult and overreacting, but it's difficult to convey without firsthand experience."
A Few Techniques to Cope
For those affected then there are various strategies you can try to cope the situation, according to experts.
- Imagine a Different Scenario: Mental imagery is crucial. Work on connecting the specific noise affecting you with an unrelated image. So for example, try to imagine someone's noisy drinking is just a sink draining water. By doing this is to retrain your mind that the sound triggering you poses no threat.
- Use Humor: Have a bit of fun and make the irritating noise into a competition with the person. As an example, if someone is eating noisily attempt copying the noise. Through participation, rather than feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an active participant. And the challenge should help distract your brain and make you somewhat less sensitive.
- Craft a Story: Another technique is to try to invent a reason about the reason someone creating the sound is behaving that way. So if someone was sniffing, maybe they are not feeling well or maybe they're upset. The idea is altering the perception of the sound. Even though the noise stays the same, your reaction of it moves from being irritating, to feeling a slightly more compassionate about it.
