Christmas Can Be a Nightmare for Those with Misophonia.
One young woman hopes for seeing her loved ones during the festive period, but says a key strategy she'll endure is by relying on her noise-cancelling devices - notably for the holiday meal.
In her case, the holidays often feels like a especially challenging season as the noises of other people chewing, slurping and nose-blowing trigger extremely uncomfortable.
"I get this feeling of sudden panic, my every muscle will just tighten and it feels like I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to somehow control these sounds."
She has lived with misophonia from a young age and for her that makes the Christmas time "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to particular auditory triggers, especially noises coming from those around you.
It's surprisingly common amongst adults. Researchers discovered a significant portion of people suffer from it.
Often it's noises connected to bodily functions that lead to discomfort, including examples such as crunching, breathing, and repetitive finger tapping.
Triggering Stress
The sufferer notes: "I face so many various auditory triggers at Christmas and that can be stressful and make you fear it.
"My relatives are understanding, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to upset others. It's like a internal conflict of managing my symptoms to ensure others enjoy themselves."
So it's obvious why the supposedly joyous time of the year can quickly turn into a living nightmare for sufferers.
Noises that may be considered normal, like someone drinking champagne, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or enjoying festive food can cause a powerful reaction that can even cause them skipping events entirely.
The student, a 21-year-old student, who has experienced sound sensitivity from childhood, explains her strategy is to put her earphones in to get through dinner. Usually, she would usually isolate herself in a quiet area to minimize triggering sounds.
She says her misophonia is more intense around people she's closest to, so Christmas is always "hard".
"There is pressure to socialize with family, and I desire to, but it's exhausting on all levels.
"The sensation is this sudden rage comes over me, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel stressed and immediately start crying and then the stress response will take over.
"To others it appears as if I'm being unreasonable and dramatic, but it's difficult to convey without firsthand experience."
Several Strategies to Cope
If you suffer then there are a few methods you can attempt to manage the situation, based on advice from specialists.
- Imagine Something Else: Mental imagery is essential. Work on connecting the triggering sound affecting you with a neutral concept. So for example, try to picture someone's noisy drinking is just a gentle stream. The goal is to retrain your mind that the sound affecting you is neutral.
- Make it a Game: Introduce playfulness and make the irritating noise into a challenge with the person. For instance, if someone is crunching loudly try mimicking the sound. By joining in, rather than feeling like the sound is unwanted, you become an engaged person. And the competition element should help shift your attention and make you somewhat less sensitive.
- Craft a Story: A further strategy is to try to invent a reason about why the person creating the sound is behaving that way. Imagine if someone was sniffing, it could be that they're not in good health or maybe they're upset. This approach is altering the perception of the sound. While the sound remains identical, your reaction of it shifts from being irritating, to feeling a slightly more compassionate about it.
