Yuletide Often Proves to Be a Terrifying Experience for Misophonia Sufferers.
A 23-year-old anticipates spending time with her family during the festive period, but says a primary method she'll endure is by wearing her earplugs - notably for Christmas dinner.
For her, this time of year is a especially challenging period as the sounds of family members munching, sipping loudly and sniffling trigger intense distress.
"I get this feeling of instant dread, my entire being will just tighten and it as though I'm in danger, and I need to somehow control these noises."
Lottie has lived with misophonia for several years and for her that causes the festive season "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is a reduced tolerance to certain sounds, especially noises coming from other people.
It is prevalent in the UK. A study reported nearly 20% people are affected by it.
Frequently it's sounds linked to bodily functions that lead to discomfort, as well as things like chewing, heavy breathing, and repetitive finger tapping.
'Anxiety Inducing'
The sufferer notes: "I face so many assorted problematic noises at the holidays and that can be stressful and make you dread it.
"My family are aware, but I'm very conscious that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a internal conflict of managing my symptoms to make sure others enjoy themselves."
So it's easy to understand why the supposedly joyous period can rapidly become a stressful ordeal for sufferers.
Triggers that may appear innocuous, like someone slurping a Buck's fizz, unwrapping gifts, or tucking into a Christmas dinner can provoke a powerful reaction that can even lead to them avoiding social settings altogether.
The student, a 21-year-old student, who has struggled with 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 minimize triggering sounds.
She says her condition is worse around people she's most familiar with, so the holidays is always "challenging".
"There's an expectation to socialize with family, and I desire to, but it's draining.
"It's like this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel embarrassing, or I'll feel stressed and burst into tears and then fight-or-flight will activate.
"It can come across as if I'm being oversensitive and melodramatic, but it's hard to explain without firsthand experience."
Several Strategies to Cope
For those affected then there are various strategies you can use to handle the situation, as suggested by specialists.
- Picture Something Else: Mental imagery is essential. Attempt to link the particular sound causing distress with an unrelated image. So for example, try to envision someone's noisy drinking is just a sink draining water. The goal is to teach your brain that the sound triggering you isn't harmful.
- Try a Competition: Introduce playfulness and make the irritating noise into a challenge involving the source. As an example, if someone is eating noisily attempt copying the noise. By joining in, instead of feeling like the sound is unwanted, you become an engaged person. And the competition element should help shift your attention and make you somewhat less sensitive.
- Develop a Narrative: One more method is to try to fabricate an explanation about why the person creating the sound is having to make that sound. Imagine if someone was sniffing, it could be that they're not feeling well or are troubled. By doing this is re-framing the context of the sound. Although the noise remains identical, your interpretation of it changes from being annoying, to feeling a bit more accepting about it.
