The Holiday Season Often Proves to Be a Living Hell for Misophonia Sufferers.
A 23-year-old anticipates being with her family this Christmas, but says a key strategy she'll cope is by wearing her hearing protection - especially during Christmas dinner.
For her, Christmas is a notably tough season as the noises of other people chewing, drinking noisily and breathing heavily make her feel profound anxiety.
"I get this feeling of sudden panic, my whole body will just tense up and it as though I'm in danger, and I need to manage these sounds."
Lottie has suffered from misophonia from a young age and for her that renders the festive season "deeply taxing".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to certain sounds, especially noises coming from those around you.
The condition is widespread amongst adults. Researchers found almost one in five people suffer from it.
Frequently it's sounds linked to eating or drinking that lead to discomfort, along with things like crunching, heavy breathing, and repetitive finger tapping.
Triggering Stress
Lottie says: "I face so many assorted problematic noises at Christmas and that can be anxiety inducing and make you dread it.
"My relatives are understanding, but I'm very aware that I don't want to spoil the mood. It's like a really big battle of enduring my distress to guarantee others enjoy themselves."
So it's obvious why the traditionally happy season can transform into a living nightmare for affected individuals.
Triggers that may seem harmless, like someone slurping a Buck's fizz, opening presents, or eating the holiday meal can trigger a strong emotional response that can even lead to them skipping events entirely.
The student, a young adult, who has experienced misophonia from childhood, says the approach she intends to use is to listen to music to cope. On any other day, she would often retreat in a separate space to avoid distressing triggers.
She notes her misophonia is worse around people she's most familiar with, so the holidays is always "hard".
"People assume you to be around family, and I desire to, but it's physically and mentally challenging.
"The sensation is this uncontrollable anger washes over me, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel panicked and begin to weep and then panic will activate.
"To others it appears as if I'm being unreasonable and overreacting, but it's tough to describe without firsthand experience."
A Few Techniques to Manage
For those affected then there are a few methods you can try to cope the situation, based on advice from experts.
- Picture Something Else: Creative thinking is crucial. Work on connecting the triggering sound bothering you with something completely different. So for example, try to imagine someone's noisy drinking is just a sink draining water. By doing this is to help your brain learn that the sound triggering you isn't harmful.
- Use Humor: Introduce playfulness and make the irritating noise into a game with the person. As an example, if someone is crunching loudly have a go at mimicking the sound. By joining in, instead of feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an willing part. And the competition element should help redirect your focus and make you somewhat less sensitive.
- Develop a Narrative: One more method is to try to fabricate an explanation about why the person making the noise is having to make that sound. So if someone was making a nasal sound, perhaps they're not feeling well or maybe they're upset. This approach is re-framing the context of the sound. While the sound stays the same, your understanding of it changes from being aggravating, to feeling a slightly more compassionate towards it.
