The Holiday Season Often Proves to Be a Terrifying Experience for Misophonia Sufferers.
Lottie hopes for seeing her loved ones over the holidays, but admits a primary method she'll endure is by using her hearing protection - notably for Christmas dinner.
For her, Christmas is a notably tough time as the noises of family members munching, slurping and sniffling cause her extremely uncomfortable.
"I experience this sensation of instant dread, my whole body will just tense up and it seems as if I'm in danger, and I need to manage these triggers."
She has lived with misophonia from a young age and for her that causes the festive season "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to specific noises, notably sounds made by other people.
It is prevalent across the population. Experts found a significant portion of people are affected by it.
Frequently it's noises associated with bodily functions that cause distress, including things like crunching, breathing, and repetitive finger tapping.
A Source of Dread
Lottie says: "I face so many different triggering sounds 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 spoil the mood. It's like a constant struggle of enduring my distress to guarantee everyone else is happy."
So it's easy to understand why the traditionally happy period can rapidly become a source of agony for those with the condition.
Noises that may be considered normal, like someone sipping a beverage, unwrapping gifts, or enjoying festive food can trigger a powerful reaction that can even result in them skipping events entirely.
She, a young adult, who has dealt with sound sensitivity for over a decade, explains the approach she intends to use is to put her earphones in to manage the meal. Typically, she would often retreat in a separate space to avoid distressing triggers.
She explains her condition is worse around people she's most comfortable with, so the holidays is always "hard".
"There is pressure to spend time with family, and I want to, but it's physically and mentally challenging.
"I feel as if this intense irritation takes hold, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel anxious and burst into tears and then panic will kick in.
"It may seem as if I'm being unreasonable and dramatic, but it's tough to describe if you haven't felt it."
A Few Techniques to Cope
If you suffer then there are some different techniques you can use to handle the situation, based on advice from clinical psychologists.
- Visualise an Alternative: Imagination is crucial. Work on connecting the particular sound affecting you with an unrelated image. So for example, try to imagine someone's noisy drinking is just a gentle stream. This technique is to teach your brain that the sound affecting you isn't harmful.
- Make it a Game: Use lightheartedness and make the irritating noise into a competition with the culprit. For example, if someone is eating noisily try mimicking the sound. Through participation, rather than feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an engaged person. And the competition element should help shift your attention and make you a little less affected.
- Create a Scenario: One more method is to try to invent a reason about the reason someone creating the sound is behaving that way. For example if someone was sniffing, maybe they are not feeling well or maybe they're upset. By doing this is altering the perception of the sound. Even though the sound remains identical, your understanding of it changes from being aggravating, to feeling a slightly more compassionate about it.
