Yuletide Transforms Into a Living Hell for Misophonia Sufferers.
A 23-year-old is looking forward to spending time with her loved ones during the festive period, but notes one of the only ways she'll endure is by wearing her noise-cancelling devices - particularly at the main festive feast.
For her, Christmas often feels like a especially challenging season as the auditory triggers of people eating, sipping loudly and sniffling cause her extremely uncomfortable.
"I experience this sensation of sudden panic, my entire being will just tighten and it feels like I'm in peril, and I need to manage these sounds."
The individual has lived with sound sensitivity from a young age and for her that renders the festive season "exceptionally stressful".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to certain sounds, notably sounds coming from those around you.
The condition is widespread amongst adults. Researchers discovered a significant portion of people experience it.
Typically it's noises connected to eating or drinking that cause distress, along with examples such as crunching, breathing, and foot tapping.
Triggering Stress
Lottie says: "I face so many various auditory triggers at the holidays and that can be daunting and make you dread it.
"My family are supportive, but I'm very aware that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a really big battle of managing my symptoms to guarantee the event goes smoothly."
So it's easy to understand why the traditionally happy period can quickly turn into a stressful ordeal for sufferers.
Noises that may be considered normal, like someone sipping a beverage, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or enjoying festive food can trigger a strong emotional response that can even result in them withdrawing from gatherings.
The student, a university student, who has dealt with misophonia from childhood, states the approach she intends to use is to use headphones to get through dinner. Typically, she would often retreat in a quiet area to avoid triggering sounds.
She says her misophonia is more intense around people she's most familiar with, so Christmas is always "hard".
"There is pressure to socialize with loved ones, and I want to, but it's exhausting on all levels.
"It's like this uncontrollable anger washes over me, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel panicked and burst into tears and then fight-or-flight will take over.
"It may seem as if I'm being unreasonable and overreacting, but it's hard to explain if you haven't felt it."
A Few Techniques to Cope
If you suffer then there are some different techniques you can attempt to manage the situation, as suggested by specialists.
- Visualise Something Else: Mental imagery is crucial. Work on connecting the triggering sound bothering you with an unrelated image. For instance, try to picture someone's slurping is just a gentle stream. The goal is to retrain your mind that the sound affecting you poses no threat.
- Make it a Game: Have a bit of fun and turn the annoying sound into a game with the culprit. For example, if someone is crunching loudly have a go at joining in. Through participation, rather than feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an willing part. And the game aspect should help redirect your focus and make you a little less affected.
- Develop a Narrative: One more method is to try to invent a reason about why the person creating the sound is doing it. Imagine if someone was making a nasal sound, perhaps they're not in good health or could be emotional. By doing this is re-framing the context of the sound. Even though the noise remains identical, your understanding of it changes from being aggravating, to feeling a bit more accepting towards it.
