Yuletide Often Proves to Be a Living Hell for Those with Misophonia.
One young woman is looking forward to seeing her loved ones during the festive period, but admits a key strategy she'll cope is by wearing her earplugs - especially during the holiday meal.
In her case, the holidays can be a notably tough season as the sounds of family members munching, drinking noisily and nose-blowing trigger extremely uncomfortable.
"I experience this sensation of immediate anxiety, my whole body will just freeze and it feels like I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to stop these noises."
She has lived with misophonia since she was 16 and for her that renders the holiday period "exceptionally stressful".
Misophonia is a reduced tolerance to specific noises, especially noises produced by individuals.
It is prevalent amongst adults. A study reported almost one in five people are affected by it.
Typically it's noises connected to mouth, throat or facial movements that lead to discomfort, including examples such as crunching, heavy breathing, and foot tapping.
Triggering Stress
Lottie says: "You encounter so many different triggering sounds at the holidays and that can be anxiety inducing and make you fear it.
"My relatives are supportive, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a internal conflict of managing my symptoms to ensure others enjoy themselves."
So it's clear why the most wonderful time of the year can quickly turn into a living nightmare for affected individuals.
Triggers that may be considered normal, like someone sipping a beverage, opening presents, or eating the holiday meal can provoke a powerful reaction that can even lead to them avoiding social settings altogether.
The student, a 21-year-old student, who has struggled with misophonia since aged 10, explains the approach she intends to use is to listen to music to cope. Typically, she would frequently go in a quiet area to avoid distressing triggers.
She explains her sensitivity is more pronounced around people she's most familiar with, so the holidays is always "difficult".
"There's an expectation to socialize with family, and I desire to, but it's physically and mentally challenging.
"I feel as if this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel stressed and burst into tears and then the stress response will kick in.
"It may seem as if I'm being oversensitive and melodramatic, but it's tough to describe if you haven't felt it."
Three Ways to Handle It
If it's an issue then there are some different techniques you can use to handle the situation, according to specialists.
- Visualise an Alternative: Imagination is essential. Work on connecting the triggering sound bothering you with something completely different. As an illustration, try to picture someone's slurping is just a gentle stream. This technique is to retrain your mind that the sound affecting you isn't harmful.
- Use Humor: Use lightheartedness and turn the annoying sound into a game with the person. For example, if someone is crunching loudly try mimicking the sound. By joining in, instead of feeling like the sound is unwanted, you become an willing part. And the challenge should help distract your brain and make you a little less affected.
- Create a Scenario: One more method is to try to create a little story about why the person creating the sound is having to make that sound. Imagine if someone was making a nasal sound, maybe they are not in good health or could be emotional. By doing this is re-framing the context of the sound. Although the sound remains identical, your understanding of it changes from being aggravating, to feeling a bit more accepting towards it.
