The Holiday Season Can Be a Nightmare for Individuals Living with Sound Sensitivity.
A 23-year-old anticipates spending time with her loved ones this Christmas, but says a primary method she'll manage to get through it is by relying on her noise-cancelling devices - especially during Christmas dinner.
For her, this time of year is a particularly difficult time as the noises of people eating, drinking noisily and nose-blowing cause her profound anxiety.
"I get this feeling of immediate anxiety, my whole body will just tense up and it seems as if I'm in peril, and I need to somehow control these triggers."
She has lived with misophonia for several years and for her that causes the Christmas time "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to certain sounds, especially noises made by individuals.
The condition is widespread in the UK. A study reported a significant portion of people experience it.
Typically it's sounds associated with mouth, throat or facial movements that trigger a reaction, along with things like chewing, breathing, and repetitive finger tapping.
A Source of Dread
The sufferer notes: "I face so many different triggering sounds at Christmas and that can be stressful and make you dread it.
"Those close to me are understanding, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to upset others. It's like a internal conflict of enduring my distress to guarantee the event goes smoothly."
So it's obvious why the traditionally happy time of the year can rapidly become a stressful ordeal for affected individuals.
Sounds that may appear innocuous, like someone sipping a beverage, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or eating the holiday meal can cause a visceral feeling that can even cause them avoiding social settings altogether.
She, a 21-year-old student, who has dealt with misophonia since aged 10, states her strategy is to put her earphones in to manage the meal. Typically, she would often retreat in a quiet area to escape triggering sounds.
She says her condition is more pronounced around people she's most familiar with, so Christmas is always "difficult".
"There's an expectation to spend time with family, and I want to, but it's physically and mentally challenging.
"It's like this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel anxious and burst into tears and then fight-or-flight will kick in.
"It can come across as if I'm being difficult and melodramatic, but it's difficult to convey if you haven't felt it."
A Few Techniques to Cope
If it's an issue then there are a few methods you can use to handle the situation, based on advice from specialists.
- Visualise Something Else: Creative thinking is key. Attempt to link the triggering sound bothering you with something completely different. As an illustration, try to picture someone's noisy drinking is just a gentle stream. The goal is to teach your brain that the sound affecting you isn't harmful.
- Use Humor: Use lightheartedness and make the irritating noise into a game involving the source. For instance, if someone is crunching loudly have a go at copying the noise. By mimicking, rather than feeling like the sound is unwanted, you become an active participant. And the competition element should help shift your attention and make you slightly more tolerant.
- Create a Scenario: A further strategy is to try to create a little story about why the person making the noise is behaving that way. So 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 sound doesn't change, your understanding of it moves from being aggravating, to feeling a slightly more compassionate about it.
