The Holiday Season Can Be a Nightmare for Misophonia Sufferers.
One young woman is looking forward to seeing her loved ones over the holidays, but admits a key strategy she'll cope is by relying on her noise-cancelling devices - especially during Christmas dinner.
For the 23-year-old, Christmas can be a notably tough time as the sounds of other people chewing, slurping and breathing heavily trigger extremely uncomfortable.
"I experience this feeling of immediate anxiety, my whole body will just freeze and it feels like I'm in peril, and I need to manage these triggers."
She has lived with this condition since she was 16 and for her that causes the holiday period "deeply taxing".
Misophonia is a decreased threshold to specific noises, particularly those produced by other people.
It is prevalent amongst adults. A study reported a significant portion of people are affected by it.
Frequently it's sounds associated with mouth, throat or facial movements that cause distress, along with things like chewing, breathing, and foot tapping.
'Anxiety Inducing'
She explains: "You encounter so many various auditory triggers at the holidays and that can be anxiety inducing and make you want to avoid it.
"My family 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 enduring my distress to ensure others enjoy themselves."
So it's obvious why the supposedly joyous period can transform into a stressful ordeal for those with the condition.
Triggers that may appear innocuous, like someone slurping a Buck's fizz, opening presents, or tucking into a Christmas dinner can trigger a powerful reaction that can even result in them skipping events entirely.
Jenna, a 21-year-old student, who has experienced misophonia for over a decade, says currently her plan is to listen to music to get through dinner. Typically, she would frequently go in a different room to escape triggering sounds.
She says her condition is more intense around people she's most familiar with, so the holidays is always "hard".
"There's an expectation to socialize with loved ones, and I want to, but it's physically and mentally challenging.
"I feel as if this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel embarrassing, or I'll feel anxious and burst into tears and then the stress response will kick in.
"To others it appears as if I'm being unreasonable and overreacting, but it's hard to explain unless you've experienced it."
Several Strategies to Handle It
If it's an issue then there are various strategies you can try to cope the situation, as suggested by experts.
- Visualise an Alternative: Imagination is key. Work on connecting the triggering sound affecting you with a neutral concept. For instance, try to picture someone's slurping is just a sink draining water. By doing this is to retrain your mind that the sound affecting you is neutral.
- Try a Competition: Introduce playfulness and make the irritating noise into a competition with the person. As an example, if someone is crunching loudly try mimicking the sound. By mimicking, instead of feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an active participant. And the game aspect should help redirect your focus and make you somewhat less sensitive.
- Develop a Narrative: Another technique is to try to create a little story about why the person creating the sound is having to make that sound. So if someone was sniffing, maybe they are not at their best or could be emotional. The idea is altering the perception of the sound. Even though the sound stays the same, your interpretation of it moves from being aggravating, to feeling a slightly more compassionate about it.
