The Holiday Season Can Be a Living Hell for Those with Misophonia.
Lottie hopes for spending time with her relatives this Christmas, but admits one of the only ways she'll endure is by relying on her noise-cancelling devices - especially during Christmas dinner.
For her, this time of year can be a particularly difficult season as the noises of other people chewing, slurping and breathing heavily cause her extremely uncomfortable.
"I get this feeling of sudden panic, my whole body will just tighten and it as though I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to stop these triggers."
She has experienced sound sensitivity since she was 16 and for her that causes the holiday period "deeply taxing".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to particular auditory triggers, notably sounds coming from individuals.
It is prevalent in the UK. Experts reported a significant portion of people suffer from it.
Often it's noises connected to eating or drinking that lead to discomfort, along with things like chewing, heavy breathing, and repetitive finger tapping.
'Anxiety Inducing'
She explains: "There are so many different triggering sounds at the holidays and that can be anxiety inducing and make you dread it.
"My family are supportive, but I'm very aware that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a internal conflict of managing my symptoms to guarantee everyone else is happy."
So it's easy to understand why the supposedly joyous season can transform into a stressful ordeal for sufferers.
Triggers that may be considered normal, like someone drinking champagne, unwrapping gifts, or eating the holiday meal can provoke a strong emotional response that can even lead to them withdrawing from gatherings.
Jenna, a university student, who has dealt with sound sensitivity from childhood, says her strategy is to listen to music to cope. Typically, she would usually isolate herself in a quiet area to escape problematic noises.
She says her sensitivity is more intense around people she's most familiar with, so Christmas is always "difficult".
"There is pressure to spend time with loved ones, and I want to, but it's draining.
"I feel as if this uncontrollable anger washes over me, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel stressed and burst into tears and then the stress response will take over.
"It can come across as if I'm being oversensitive and dramatic, but it's difficult to convey without firsthand experience."
A Few Techniques to Cope
For those affected then there are a few methods you can try to cope the situation, as suggested by experts.
- Imagine an Alternative: Creative thinking is crucial. 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. This technique is to teach your brain that the sound affecting you isn't harmful.
- Make it a Game: 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, instead of feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an willing part. And the game aspect should help distract your brain and make you somewhat less sensitive.
- Develop a Narrative: Another technique is to try to invent a reason about the reason someone making the noise is having to make that sound. Imagine if someone was making a nasal sound, maybe they are not feeling well or could be emotional. By doing this is altering the perception of the sound. Even though the sound stays the same, your reaction of it changes from being annoying, to feeling a little more neutral towards it.
