Yuletide Often Proves to Be a Nightmare for Misophonia Sufferers.
A 23-year-old hopes for seeing her family this Christmas, but admits a key strategy she'll manage to get through it is by relying on her noise-cancelling devices - especially during Christmas dinner.
For the 23-year-old, the holidays often feels like a notably tough season as the sounds of family members munching, slurping and breathing heavily make her feel extremely uncomfortable.
"I experience this wave of instant dread, my every muscle will just tighten and it as though I'm in peril, and I need to stop these noises."
She has suffered from misophonia for several years and for her that causes the festive season "exceptionally stressful".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to certain sounds, particularly those produced by those around you.
It's surprisingly common in the UK. Experts found almost one in five people suffer from it.
Frequently it's sounds connected to mouth, throat or facial movements that lead to discomfort, as well as examples such as crunching, breathing, and pen clicking.
Triggering Stress
She explains: "There are so many various auditory triggers at Christmas and that can be stressful and make you fear it.
"My family are aware, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to upset others. It's like a really big battle of sacrificing my own sanity to guarantee others enjoy themselves."
So it's clear why the most wonderful time of the year can quickly turn into a living nightmare for those with the condition.
Triggers that may be considered normal, like someone slurping a Buck's fizz, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or eating the holiday meal can trigger a strong emotional response that can even result in them avoiding social settings altogether.
Jenna, a university student, who has struggled with sound sensitivity from childhood, says her strategy is to use headphones to get through dinner. Usually, she would often retreat in a separate space to escape distressing triggers.
She explains her sensitivity is worse around people she's most familiar with, so the holidays is always "hard".
"There is pressure to socialize with family, and I desire to, but it's draining.
"It's like this intense irritation takes hold, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel anxious and immediately start crying and then panic will take over.
"To others it appears as if I'm being unreasonable and dramatic, but it's hard to explain unless you've experienced it."
Three Ways to Handle It
If it's an issue then there are some different techniques you can use to handle the situation, based on advice from clinical psychologists.
- Visualise Something Else: Mental imagery is essential. Try to associate the particular sound bothering you with something completely different. As an illustration, try to picture someone's noisy drinking is just a sink draining water. The goal is to help your brain learn that the sound triggering you isn't harmful.
- Use Humor: Use lightheartedness and make the irritating noise into a competition with the culprit. As an example, if someone is crunching loudly have a go at copying the noise. Through participation, instead of feeling like the sound is being imposed on you, you become an willing part. And the challenge should help distract your brain and make you slightly more tolerant.
- Create a Scenario: One more method is to try to fabricate an explanation about the reason someone creating the sound is having to make that sound. So if someone was making a nasal sound, maybe they are not at their best or are troubled. By doing this is changing the meaning of the sound. Even though the sound stays the same, your interpretation of it changes from being annoying, to feeling a bit more accepting towards it.
