Yuletide Often Proves to Be a Nightmare for Those with Misophonia.
Lottie hopes for being with her family this Christmas, but notes one of the only ways she'll cope is by wearing her noise-cancelling devices - especially during Christmas dinner.
In her case, this time of year often feels like a especially challenging season as the auditory triggers of family members munching, sipping loudly and sniffling cause her intense distress.
"There's this sensation of sudden panic, my every muscle will just freeze and it as though I'm in peril, and I need to somehow control these sounds."
She has lived with this condition since she was 16 and for her that renders the Christmas time "exceptionally stressful".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to certain sounds, particularly those made by those around you.
The condition is widespread in the UK. A study found a significant portion of people suffer from it.
Often it's sounds associated with eating or drinking that lead to discomfort, along with examples such as crunching, breathing, and repetitive finger tapping.
A Source of Dread
She explains: "I face so many different triggering sounds at Christmas and that can be daunting and make you fear it.
"My family are supportive, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to spoil the mood. It's like a internal conflict of managing my symptoms to ensure others enjoy themselves."
So it's easy to understand why the supposedly joyous period can quickly turn into a stressful ordeal for sufferers.
Noises that may appear innocuous, like someone sipping a beverage, unwrapping gifts, or enjoying festive food can trigger a strong emotional response that can even cause them withdrawing from gatherings.
The student, a university student, who has struggled with misophonia from childhood, explains the approach she intends to use is to use headphones to get through dinner. Typically, she would frequently go in a quiet area to avoid distressing triggers.
She notes her sensitivity is more pronounced around people she's most comfortable with, so Christmas is always "hard".
"There's an expectation to spend time with family, and I wish to, but it's exhausting on all levels.
"I feel as if this intense irritation washes over me, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel anxious and burst into tears and then panic will take over.
"It may seem as if I'm being difficult and melodramatic, but it's difficult to convey unless you've experienced it."
A Few Techniques to Handle It
If it's an issue then there are a few methods you can attempt to manage the situation, as suggested by specialists.
- Visualise Something Else: Creative thinking is crucial. Attempt to link the particular sound bothering you with something completely different. As an illustration, try to picture someone's slurping is just a sink draining water. By doing this is to retrain your mind that the sound triggering you isn't harmful.
- Use Humor: Introduce playfulness and make the irritating noise into a challenge with the person. As an example, if someone is crunching loudly attempt joining in. By mimicking, rather than feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an engaged person. And the challenge should help shift your attention and make you slightly more tolerant.
- Create a Scenario: Another technique is to try to fabricate an explanation about why the person creating the sound is behaving that way. Imagine if someone was making a nasal sound, perhaps they're not feeling well or are troubled. By doing this is re-framing the context of the sound. Even though the noise doesn't change, your understanding of it changes from being irritating, to feeling a slightly more compassionate towards it.
