The Holiday Season Can Be a Living Hell for Those with Misophonia.
Lottie anticipates seeing her family this Christmas, but admits a primary method she'll endure is by wearing her earplugs - especially during the main festive feast.
For her, Christmas often feels like a particularly difficult season as the auditory triggers of people eating, drinking noisily and nose-blowing cause her profound anxiety.
"I experience this wave of instant dread, my whole body will just tense up and it as though I'm in peril, and I need to manage these triggers."
The individual has experienced sound sensitivity from a young age and for her that renders the Christmas time "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is a decreased threshold to specific noises, especially noises produced by other people.
The condition is widespread in the UK. A study found a significant portion of people suffer from it.
Often it's sounds linked to mouth, throat or facial movements that lead to discomfort, along with examples such as crunching, heavy breathing, and pen clicking.
A Source of Dread
Lottie says: "There are so many various auditory triggers at Christmas and that can be daunting and make you fear it.
"My relatives are understanding, but I'm very aware that I don't want to upset others. It's like a internal conflict of managing my symptoms to make sure others enjoy themselves."
So it's clear why the supposedly joyous period can rapidly become a stressful ordeal for sufferers.
Triggers that may appear innocuous, like someone drinking champagne, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or eating the holiday meal can provoke a strong emotional response that can even cause them skipping events entirely.
Jenna, a university student, who has experienced sound sensitivity since aged 10, explains currently her plan is to use headphones to manage the meal. Usually, she would frequently go in a different room to minimize problematic noises.
She explains her condition is more intense around people she's most comfortable with, so the holidays is always "hard".
"People assume you to be around family, and I wish to, but it's draining.
"It's like this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel panicked and burst into tears and then panic will kick in.
"It can come across as if I'm being unreasonable and melodramatic, but it's hard to explain without firsthand experience."
Several Strategies to Handle It
If you suffer then there are some different techniques you can attempt to manage the situation, according to clinical psychologists.
- Imagine Something Else: Imagination is crucial. Work on connecting the particular sound affecting you with a neutral concept. So for example, try to envision someone's noisy drinking is just a waterfall. The goal is to help your brain learn that the sound affecting you is neutral.
- Try a Competition: Introduce playfulness and turn the annoying sound into a game with the culprit. For instance, if someone is eating noisily try mimicking the sound. By mimicking, rather than feeling like the sound is unwanted, you become an engaged person. And the game aspect should help shift your attention and make you a little less affected.
- Develop a Narrative: A further strategy is to try to create a little story about why the person creating the sound is doing it. So if someone was sniffing, maybe they are not feeling well or maybe they're upset. This approach is changing the meaning of the sound. Although the sound stays the same, your interpretation of it shifts from being aggravating, to feeling a little more neutral towards it.
