Yuletide Often Proves to Be a Nightmare for Those with Misophonia.
A 23-year-old is looking forward to seeing her loved ones over the holidays, but says a key strategy she'll endure is by relying on her earplugs - especially during the main festive feast.
For the 23-year-old, Christmas is a especially challenging season as the auditory triggers of people eating, sipping loudly and nose-blowing cause her intense distress.
"I get this wave of immediate anxiety, my entire being will just tighten and it seems as if I'm in peril, and I need to manage these sounds."
Lottie has suffered from misophonia from a young age and for her that causes the festive season "exceptionally stressful".
Misophonia is a decreased threshold to certain sounds, especially noises made by other people.
It's surprisingly common across the population. Researchers discovered a significant portion of people suffer from it.
Often it's sounds connected to bodily functions that lead to discomfort, along with things like crunching, heavy breathing, and repetitive finger tapping.
Triggering Stress
Lottie says: "There are so many assorted problematic noises at Christmas and that can be stressful and make you want to avoid it.
"My family are supportive, but I'm very aware that I don't want to upset others. It's like a constant struggle of managing my symptoms to ensure everyone else is happy."
So it's obvious why the traditionally happy season can rapidly become a living nightmare for those with the condition.
Triggers that may be considered normal, like someone sipping a beverage, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or tucking into a Christmas dinner can trigger a strong emotional response that can even lead to them skipping events entirely.
She, a 21-year-old student, who has experienced misophonia for over a decade, states the approach she intends to use is to put her earphones in to get through dinner. Usually, she would usually isolate herself in a different room to minimize distressing triggers.
She says her condition is worse around people she's most familiar with, so the holidays is always "difficult".
"People assume you to spend time with loved ones, and I wish to, but it's draining.
"I feel as if this intense irritation comes over me, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel stressed and burst into tears and then the stress response will activate.
"To others it appears as if I'm being unreasonable and melodramatic, but it's difficult to convey unless you've experienced it."
A Few Techniques to Cope
If it's an issue then there are a few methods you can use to handle the situation, as suggested by clinical psychologists.
- Visualise Something Else: Creative thinking is essential. Try to associate the particular sound causing distress with something completely different. For instance, try to envision someone's slurping is just a gentle stream. By doing this is to help your brain learn that the sound triggering you isn't harmful.
- Try a Competition: Introduce playfulness and turn the annoying sound into a game with the culprit. For instance, if someone is crunching loudly have a go at joining in. Through participation, instead of feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an active participant. And the competition element should help distract your brain and make you a little less affected.
- Develop a Narrative: One more method is to try to fabricate an explanation about the reason someone making the noise is having to make that sound. So if someone was making a nasal sound, it could be that they're not feeling well or maybe they're upset. The idea is altering the perception of the sound. Even though the noise stays the same, your reaction of it shifts from being aggravating, to feeling a little more neutral towards it.
