The Holiday Season Transforms Into a Living Hell for Those with Misophonia.
Lottie hopes for seeing her family during the festive period, but notes a primary method she'll manage to get through it is by using her noise-cancelling devices - especially during Christmas dinner.
For the 23-year-old, the holidays often feels like a notably tough season as the auditory triggers of family members munching, drinking noisily and nose-blowing make her feel profound anxiety.
"I get this sensation of instant dread, my every muscle will just tighten and it seems as if I'm in peril, and I need to stop these triggers."
Lottie has suffered from this condition for several years and for her that causes the Christmas time "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to certain sounds, notably sounds made by those around you.
It's surprisingly common amongst adults. Experts found nearly 20% people suffer from it.
Often it's noises linked to eating or drinking that lead to discomfort, including examples such as crunching, breathing, and foot tapping.
A Source of Dread
She explains: "There are so many various auditory triggers at the holidays and that can be daunting and make you dread it.
"Those close to me are supportive, but I'm very conscious that I don't want to spoil the mood. It's like a internal conflict of enduring my distress to make sure others enjoy themselves."
So it's obvious why the traditionally happy period can rapidly become a living nightmare for sufferers.
Noises that may be considered normal, like someone sipping a beverage, opening presents, or eating the holiday meal can cause a strong emotional response that can even result in them skipping events entirely.
Jenna, a 21-year-old student, who has experienced sound sensitivity for over a decade, says the approach she intends to use is to put her earphones in to get through dinner. On any other day, she would usually isolate herself in a different room to escape problematic noises.
She notes her misophonia is worse around people she's closest to, so the holidays is always "difficult".
"There's an expectation to be around family, and I desire to, but it's draining.
"The sensation is this intense irritation washes over me, which can feel embarrassing, or I'll feel panicked and burst into tears and then panic will activate.
"To others it appears as if I'm being difficult and dramatic, but it's hard to explain if you haven't felt it."
A Few Techniques to Handle It
If it's an issue then there are various strategies you can try to cope the situation, as suggested by experts.
- Imagine Something Else: Imagination is key. Work on connecting the specific noise affecting you with an unrelated image. For instance, try to picture someone's noisy drinking is just a sink draining water. By doing this is to teach your brain that the sound affecting you isn't harmful.
- Use Humor: Introduce playfulness and make the irritating noise into a game involving the source. For instance, if someone is crunching loudly have a go at joining in. By joining in, instead of feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an engaged person. And the challenge should help shift your attention and make you somewhat less sensitive.
- Develop a Narrative: One more method is to try to create a little story about the reason someone creating the sound is having to make that sound. So if someone was making a nasal sound, perhaps they're not in good health or maybe they're upset. By doing this is changing the meaning of the sound. While the sound doesn't change, your interpretation of it changes from being irritating, to feeling a bit more accepting towards it.
