Christmas Can Be a Nightmare for Those with Misophonia.
Lottie hopes for seeing her loved ones during the festive period, but admits a primary method she'll cope is by wearing her earplugs - especially during the main festive feast.
For her, Christmas often feels like a especially challenging period as the auditory triggers of people eating, sipping loudly and nose-blowing make her feel profound anxiety.
"I get this feeling of sudden panic, my whole body will just tense up and it feels like I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to stop these noises."
The individual has lived with sound sensitivity for several years and for her that renders the Christmas time "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to specific noises, especially noises produced by individuals.
It's surprisingly common across the population. Researchers found almost one in five people suffer from it.
Frequently it's noises associated with eating or drinking that trigger a reaction, along with examples such as chewing, heavy breathing, and foot tapping.
Triggering Stress
Lottie says: "You encounter so many various auditory triggers at Christmas and that can be daunting and make you fear it.
"My family are aware, but I'm very aware that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a internal conflict of sacrificing my own sanity to ensure others enjoy themselves."
So it's easy to understand why the traditionally happy season can rapidly become a living nightmare for those with the condition.
Triggers that may seem harmless, like someone drinking champagne, unwrapping gifts, or tucking into a Christmas dinner can cause a strong emotional response that can even result in them skipping events entirely.
Jenna, a university student, who has struggled with misophonia from childhood, states currently her plan is to put her earphones in to cope. On any other day, she would usually isolate herself in a different room to avoid distressing triggers.
She says her condition is worse around people she's most familiar with, so the holidays is always "challenging".
"There is pressure to spend time with family, and I want to, but it's exhausting on all levels.
"I feel as if this intense irritation comes over me, which can feel embarrassing, or I'll feel stressed and burst into tears and then fight-or-flight will kick in.
"To others it appears as if I'm being unreasonable and overreacting, but it's tough to describe if you haven't felt it."
Three Ways to Manage
If it's an issue then there are some different techniques you can attempt to manage the situation, according to specialists.
- Imagine an Alternative: Creative thinking is crucial. Try to associate the triggering sound causing distress with a neutral concept. As an illustration, try to envision someone's slurping is just a sink draining water. By doing this is to retrain your mind that the sound affecting you isn't harmful.
- Try a Competition: Have a bit of fun and make the irritating noise into a competition with the culprit. As an example, if someone is crunching loudly attempt mimicking the sound. By joining in, rather than feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an willing part. And the game aspect should help distract your brain and make you a little less affected.
- Create a Scenario: A further strategy is to try to fabricate an explanation about the reason someone making the noise is behaving that way. For example if someone was sniffing, perhaps they're not feeling well or maybe they're upset. By doing this is changing the meaning of the sound. Even though the noise remains identical, your interpretation of it moves from being annoying, to feeling a bit more accepting about it.
