Yuletide Transforms Into a Terrifying Experience for Those with Misophonia.
A 23-year-old hopes for being with her family during the festive period, but notes a primary method she'll manage to get through it is by wearing her hearing protection - especially during Christmas dinner.
For her, the holidays is a particularly difficult time as the auditory triggers of people eating, slurping and breathing heavily make her feel profound anxiety.
"I get this wave of sudden panic, my entire being will just freeze and it as though I'm in danger, and I need to stop these noises."
Lottie has experienced sound sensitivity from a young age and for her that makes the Christmas time "exceptionally stressful".
Misophonia is a decreased threshold to specific noises, notably sounds produced by other people.
It's surprisingly common across the population. A study reported almost one in five people suffer from it.
Typically it's sounds linked to eating or drinking that cause distress, as well as examples such as chewing, heavy breathing, and pen clicking.
Triggering Stress
The sufferer notes: "I face so many assorted problematic noises at the holidays and that can be stressful and make you fear it.
"My relatives are aware, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to spoil the mood. It's like a internal conflict of enduring my distress to guarantee others enjoy themselves."
So it's clear why the most wonderful time of the year can rapidly become a living nightmare for affected individuals.
Triggers that may appear innocuous, like someone sipping a beverage, unwrapping gifts, or eating the holiday meal can provoke a powerful reaction that can even cause them skipping events entirely.
The student, a university student, who has dealt with sound sensitivity for over a decade, says the approach she intends to use is to put her earphones in to cope. Typically, she would usually isolate herself in a quiet area to escape distressing triggers.
She explains her condition is more intense around people she's most comfortable with, so Christmas is always "difficult".
"There is pressure to spend time with family, and I want to, but it's exhausting on all levels.
"I feel as if this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel stressed and burst into tears and then fight-or-flight will kick in.
"It may seem as if I'm being difficult and overreacting, but it's hard to explain unless you've experienced it."
Several Strategies to Manage
For those affected then there are a few methods you can use to handle the situation, according to experts.
- Picture Something Else: Mental imagery is key. Work on connecting the specific noise causing distress with an unrelated image. As an illustration, try to imagine someone's slurping is just a waterfall. By doing this is to retrain your mind that the sound triggering you is neutral.
- Try a Competition: Use lightheartedness and make the irritating noise into a competition with the culprit. For example, if someone is crunching loudly try copying the noise. By mimicking, 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 slightly more tolerant.
- Create a Scenario: Another technique is to try to invent a reason about the reason someone creating the sound is having to make that sound. For example if someone was making a nasal sound, it could be that they're not in good health or maybe they're upset. By doing this is changing the meaning of the sound. While the sound stays the same, your interpretation of it moves from being annoying, to feeling a bit more accepting towards it.
