Yuletide Can Be a Living Hell for Those with Misophonia.
A 23-year-old hopes for seeing her loved ones this Christmas, but notes a key strategy she'll cope is by wearing her hearing protection - notably for the holiday meal.
For her, Christmas often feels like a notably tough time as the sounds of other people chewing, drinking noisily and breathing heavily cause her extremely uncomfortable.
"There's this feeling of instant dread, my every muscle will just tense up and it as though I'm in peril, and I need to manage these sounds."
She has experienced sound sensitivity from a young age and for her that makes the festive season "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is a decreased threshold to certain sounds, particularly those produced by other people.
The condition is widespread across the population. Experts reported almost one in five people suffer from it.
Often it's noises linked to mouth, throat or facial movements that trigger a reaction, including things like crunching, heavy breathing, and repetitive finger tapping.
A Source of Dread
Lottie says: "You encounter so many various auditory triggers at Christmas and that can be anxiety inducing and make you want to avoid it.
"My family are aware, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a internal conflict of enduring my distress to ensure everyone else is happy."
So it's clear why the traditionally happy period can rapidly become a stressful ordeal for sufferers.
Sounds that may be considered normal, like someone drinking champagne, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or enjoying festive food can trigger a visceral feeling that can even lead to them skipping events entirely.
Jenna, a young adult, who has struggled with misophonia since aged 10, explains the approach she intends to use is to listen to music to cope. Typically, she would usually isolate herself in a separate space to escape triggering sounds.
She says her condition is more intense around people she's most comfortable with, so the holidays is always "difficult".
"There's an expectation to be around family, and I want to, but it's physically and mentally challenging.
"The sensation is this sudden rage washes over me, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel stressed and begin to weep and then the stress response will kick in.
"It may seem as if I'm being difficult and overreacting, but it's tough to describe without firsthand experience."
Several Strategies to Cope
For those affected then there are some different techniques you can use to handle the situation, based on advice from clinical psychologists.
- Visualise Something Else: Mental imagery is key. Attempt to link the specific noise affecting you with something completely different. For instance, try to envision someone's slurping is just a gentle stream. The goal is to teach your brain that the sound triggering you isn't harmful.
- Try a Competition: Have a bit of fun and turn the annoying sound into a competition involving the source. For instance, if someone is eating noisily try copying the noise. Through participation, rather than feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an engaged person. And the game aspect should help redirect your focus and make you somewhat less sensitive.
- Develop a Narrative: A further strategy is to try to invent a reason about the reason someone creating the sound is behaving that way. So if someone was making a nasal sound, it could be that they're not in good health or maybe they're upset. By doing this is altering the perception of the sound. Although the sound doesn't change, your understanding of it shifts from being annoying, to feeling a bit more accepting about it.
