Christmas Can Be a Terrifying Experience for Misophonia Sufferers.
A 23-year-old is looking forward to seeing her loved ones during the festive period, but says a key strategy she'll manage to get through it is by relying on her noise-cancelling devices - especially during the holiday meal.
For her, Christmas often feels like a especially challenging time as the auditory triggers of other people chewing, drinking noisily and sniffling cause her profound anxiety.
"There's this feeling of instant dread, my whole body will just tense up and it feels like I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to stop these noises."
Lottie has lived with misophonia from a young age and for her that renders the Christmas time "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to specific noises, particularly those made by individuals.
It is prevalent amongst adults. Experts discovered a significant portion of people are affected by it.
Typically it's noises connected to bodily functions that trigger a reaction, including examples such as chewing, breathing, and repetitive finger tapping.
'Anxiety Inducing'
The sufferer notes: "I face so many different triggering sounds at Christmas and that can be stressful and make you dread it.
"Those close to me are understanding, but I'm very conscious that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a internal conflict of sacrificing my own sanity to make sure others enjoy themselves."
So it's easy to understand why the most wonderful season can quickly turn into a living nightmare for affected individuals.
Noises that may seem harmless, like someone drinking champagne, unwrapping gifts, or eating the holiday meal can trigger a visceral feeling that can even lead to them withdrawing from gatherings.
Jenna, a 21-year-old student, who has struggled with misophonia for over a decade, says the approach she intends to use is to use headphones to manage the meal. Typically, she would usually isolate herself in a different room to avoid problematic noises.
She notes her condition is worse around people she's most familiar with, so the holidays is always "challenging".
"People assume you to spend time with family, and I desire to, but it's physically and mentally challenging.
"The sensation is this sudden rage comes over me, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel stressed and burst into tears and then the stress response will activate.
"To others it appears as if I'm being difficult and overreacting, but it's tough to describe if you haven't felt it."
Several Strategies to Handle It
For those affected then there are some different techniques you can use to handle the situation, as suggested by specialists.
- Picture Something Else: Creative thinking is essential. Attempt to link the triggering sound causing distress with a neutral concept. So for example, try to envision someone's slurping is just a gentle stream. By doing this is to retrain your mind that the sound affecting you is neutral.
- Make it a Game: Introduce playfulness and turn the annoying sound into a competition with the culprit. As an example, if someone is eating noisily try copying the noise. By mimicking, rather than feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an engaged person. And the competition element should help shift your attention and make you a little less affected.
- Craft a Story: One more method is to try to fabricate an explanation about the reason someone creating the sound is behaving that way. So if someone was making a nasal sound, perhaps they're not feeling well or could be emotional. By doing this is re-framing the context of the sound. Even though the noise stays the same, your interpretation of it moves from being irritating, to feeling a little more neutral about it.
