Christmas Can Be a Terrifying Experience for Misophonia Sufferers.
Lottie is looking forward to seeing her relatives during the festive period, but notes one of the only ways she'll endure is by relying on her hearing protection - especially during the main festive feast.
In her case, the holidays can be a especially challenging period as the auditory triggers of other people chewing, slurping and sniffling make her feel profound anxiety.
"There's this sensation of instant dread, my entire being will just freeze and it seems as if I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to somehow control these sounds."
Lottie has experienced sound sensitivity from a young age and for her that causes the festive season "exceptionally stressful".
Misophonia is a decreased threshold to specific noises, particularly those produced by individuals.
The condition is widespread across the population. Researchers found a significant portion of people experience it.
Typically it's noises connected to eating or drinking that cause distress, including examples such as chewing, heavy breathing, and foot tapping.
A Source of Dread
She explains: "I face so many various auditory triggers at the holidays and that can be stressful and make you fear it.
"My relatives are aware, but I'm very aware that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a internal conflict of sacrificing my own sanity to ensure everyone else is happy."
So it's obvious why the most wonderful time of the year can quickly turn into a living nightmare for sufferers.
Triggers that may seem harmless, like someone drinking champagne, unwrapping gifts, or tucking into a Christmas dinner can trigger a visceral feeling that can even lead to them avoiding social settings altogether.
She, a 21-year-old student, who has struggled with misophonia since aged 10, explains the approach she intends to use is to put her earphones in to get through dinner. Typically, she would frequently go in a different room to minimize triggering sounds.
She says her misophonia is more intense around people she's closest to, so the holidays is always "challenging".
"People assume you to be around family, and I desire to, but it's physically and mentally challenging.
"The sensation is this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel panicked and begin to weep and then the stress response will kick in.
"It may seem as if I'm being unreasonable and overreacting, but it's hard to explain unless you've experienced it."
A Few Techniques to Cope
For those affected then there are various strategies you can try to cope the situation, based on advice from clinical psychologists.
- Visualise Something Else: Creative thinking is key. Work on connecting the particular sound causing distress with an unrelated image. So for example, try to picture someone's noisy drinking is just a gentle stream. The goal is to teach your brain that the sound affecting you isn't harmful.
- Make it a Game: Have a bit of fun and make the irritating noise into a challenge involving the source. For instance, if someone is crunching loudly attempt copying the noise. Through participation, rather than feeling like the sound is being imposed on you, you become an engaged person. And the challenge should help distract your brain and make you somewhat less sensitive.
- Craft a Story: One more method is to try to create a little story about why the person creating the sound is doing it. For example if someone was sniffing, maybe they are not at their best or maybe they're upset. By doing this is re-framing the context of the sound. Although the noise doesn't change, your understanding of it changes from being annoying, to feeling a slightly more compassionate about it.
