Yuletide Often Proves to Be a Nightmare for Those with Misophonia.
Lottie is looking forward to seeing her family this Christmas, but notes a key strategy she'll manage to get through it is by relying on her hearing protection - especially during the main festive feast.
In her case, the holidays is a especially challenging time as the auditory triggers of other people chewing, drinking noisily and nose-blowing trigger intense distress.
"There's this wave of immediate anxiety, my every muscle will just tighten and it seems as if I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to somehow control these sounds."
Lottie has suffered from sound sensitivity for several years and for her that makes the festive season "deeply taxing".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to specific noises, particularly those produced by other people.
It is prevalent amongst adults. Researchers found almost one in five people suffer from it.
Often it's noises connected to mouth, throat or facial movements that cause distress, including examples such as chewing, heavy breathing, and foot tapping.
Triggering Stress
She explains: "I face so many various auditory triggers at the holidays and that can be stressful and make you dread it.
"My family are understanding, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a internal conflict of sacrificing my own sanity to guarantee everyone else is happy."
So it's easy to understand why the traditionally happy time of the year can rapidly become a living nightmare for sufferers.
Triggers that may appear innocuous, like someone slurping a Buck's fizz, opening presents, or eating the holiday meal can provoke a visceral feeling that can even result in them withdrawing from gatherings.
She, a university student, who has experienced misophonia from childhood, explains the approach she intends to use is to use headphones to cope. Typically, she would usually isolate herself in a separate space to avoid problematic noises.
She explains her misophonia is more intense around people she's most familiar with, so the holidays is always "challenging".
"There is pressure to spend time with family, and I wish to, but it's physically and mentally challenging.
"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 the stress response will activate.
"It can come across as if I'm being difficult and melodramatic, but it's hard to explain if you haven't felt it."
A Few Techniques to Handle It
If you suffer then there are some different techniques you can try to cope the situation, according to experts.
- Imagine Something Else: Mental imagery is essential. Work on connecting the specific noise causing distress with a neutral concept. As an illustration, try to imagine someone's slurping is just a waterfall. By doing this is to teach your brain that the sound affecting you isn't harmful.
- Try a Competition: Have a bit of fun and turn the annoying sound into a challenge with the culprit. As an example, if someone is eating noisily try copying the noise. Through participation, instead of feeling like the sound is being imposed on you, you become an engaged person. And the challenge should help redirect your focus 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 doing it. Imagine if someone was sniffing, maybe they are not at their best or are troubled. This approach is re-framing the context of the sound. Although the sound remains identical, your reaction of it moves from being irritating, to feeling a little more neutral about it.
