The Holiday Season Can Be a Living Hell for Misophonia Sufferers.
Lottie hopes for spending time with her family during the festive period, but says a key strategy she'll cope is by wearing her earplugs - particularly at the holiday meal.
In her case, Christmas is a especially challenging season as the sounds of other people chewing, drinking noisily and sniffling trigger extremely uncomfortable.
"I experience this sensation of immediate anxiety, my whole body will just tense up and it feels like I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to stop these triggers."
The individual has experienced misophonia for several years and for her that renders the holiday period "exceptionally stressful".
Misophonia is a decreased threshold to particular auditory triggers, notably sounds made by individuals.
It's surprisingly common in the UK. Researchers reported a significant portion of people suffer from it.
Typically it's noises associated with eating or drinking that lead to discomfort, as well as examples such as crunching, heavy breathing, and foot tapping.
'Anxiety Inducing'
The sufferer notes: "I face so many different triggering sounds at Christmas and that can be anxiety inducing and make you fear it.
"My relatives are understanding, 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 make sure everyone else is happy."
So it's clear why the supposedly joyous time of the year can transform into a living nightmare for sufferers.
Triggers that may be considered normal, like someone slurping a Buck's fizz, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or enjoying festive food can trigger a powerful reaction that can even result in them withdrawing from gatherings.
The student, a young adult, who has struggled with sound sensitivity since aged 10, explains currently her plan is to use headphones to get through dinner. On any other day, she would frequently go in a separate space to avoid distressing triggers.
She explains her sensitivity is worse around people she's most familiar with, so the holidays is always "hard".
"People assume you to spend time with loved ones, and I wish to, but it's exhausting on all levels.
"The sensation is this intense irritation takes hold, which can feel embarrassing, or I'll feel stressed and burst into tears and then panic will activate.
"It can come across as if I'm being difficult and overreacting, but it's hard to explain if you haven't felt it."
A Few Techniques to Cope
If you suffer then there are some different techniques you can attempt to manage the situation, as suggested by experts.
- Visualise a Different Scenario: Mental imagery is essential. Try to associate the specific noise causing distress with a neutral concept. As an illustration, try to picture someone's slurping is just a sink draining water. The goal is to retrain your mind that the sound triggering you isn't harmful.
- Make it a Game: Introduce playfulness and turn the annoying sound into a game with the culprit. As an example, if someone is eating noisily try mimicking the sound. Through participation, instead of feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an engaged person. And the competition element should help distract your brain and make you somewhat less sensitive.
- Develop a Narrative: Another technique is to try to fabricate an explanation about the reason someone making the noise is behaving that way. Imagine if someone was sniffing, maybe they are not at their best or could be emotional. This approach is changing the meaning of the sound. Although the noise stays the same, your interpretation of it changes from being annoying, to feeling a bit more accepting towards it.
