The Holiday Season Often Proves to Be a Terrifying Experience for Those with Misophonia.
A 23-year-old is looking forward to spending time with her relatives over the holidays, but notes a key strategy she'll endure is by wearing her noise-cancelling devices - particularly at the holiday meal.
For her, this time of year often feels like a particularly difficult season as the auditory triggers of family members munching, drinking noisily and sniffling cause her extremely uncomfortable.
"I experience this wave of immediate anxiety, my whole body will just freeze and it seems as if I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to stop these triggers."
The individual has suffered from this condition for several years and for her that causes the festive season "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is a decreased threshold to specific noises, especially noises coming from other people.
It's surprisingly common amongst adults. Researchers reported nearly 20% people suffer from it.
Often it's sounds associated with bodily functions that trigger a reaction, as well as things like crunching, heavy breathing, and foot tapping.
A Source of Dread
She explains: "There are so many various auditory triggers at the holidays and that can be anxiety inducing and make you dread it.
"My family are aware, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to spoil the mood. It's like a really big battle of enduring my distress to ensure the event goes smoothly."
So it's easy to understand why the supposedly joyous time of the year can quickly turn into a living nightmare for sufferers.
Sounds that may seem harmless, like someone sipping a beverage, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or tucking into a Christmas dinner can provoke a strong emotional response that can even lead to them withdrawing from gatherings.
The student, a young adult, who has experienced misophonia for over a decade, explains currently her plan is to put her earphones in to manage the meal. Typically, she would often retreat in a different room to minimize distressing triggers.
She explains her sensitivity is more intense around people she's most familiar with, so Christmas is always "challenging".
"There is pressure to be around loved ones, and I want to, but it's draining.
"The sensation is this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel stressed and begin to weep and then fight-or-flight will kick in.
"It can come across as if I'm being oversensitive and dramatic, but it's tough to describe unless you've experienced it."
Three Ways to Manage
For those affected then there are some different techniques you can use to handle the situation, based on advice from clinical psychologists.
- Picture a Different Scenario: Imagination is crucial. Work on connecting the specific noise bothering you with an unrelated image. For instance, try to picture someone's slurping is just a gentle stream. This technique is to retrain your mind that the sound affecting you isn't harmful.
- Use Humor: Introduce playfulness and make the irritating noise into a competition involving the source. As an example, if someone is crunching loudly attempt mimicking the sound. By joining in, instead of feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an active participant. And the game aspect should help distract your brain and make you a little less affected.
- Create a Scenario: Another technique is to try to invent a reason about the reason someone creating the sound is doing it. So if someone was sniffing, perhaps they're not in good health or could be emotional. The idea is changing the meaning of the sound. Even though the noise stays the same, your understanding of it shifts from being annoying, to feeling a slightly more compassionate towards it.
