The Holiday Season Often Proves to Be a Living Hell for Misophonia Sufferers.
A 23-year-old is looking forward to seeing her family during the festive period, but admits a key strategy she'll endure is by using her noise-cancelling devices - notably for the main festive feast.
In her case, the holidays can be a notably tough period as the sounds of family members munching, sipping loudly and sniffling trigger profound anxiety.
"There's this feeling of sudden panic, my entire being will just freeze and it as though I'm in danger, and I need to stop these triggers."
The individual has suffered from sound sensitivity since she was 16 and for her that makes the Christmas time "deeply taxing".
Misophonia is a decreased threshold to specific noises, especially noises made by other people.
It is prevalent in the UK. A study reported almost one in five people suffer from it.
Typically it's sounds linked to bodily functions that trigger a reaction, as well as things like chewing, heavy breathing, and pen clicking.
A Source of Dread
She explains: "You encounter so many assorted problematic noises at Christmas and that can be anxiety inducing and make you dread it.
"Those close to me are aware, but I'm very conscious that I don't want to spoil the mood. It's like a internal conflict of managing my symptoms to make sure others enjoy themselves."
So it's clear why the most wonderful time of the year can transform into a stressful ordeal for sufferers.
Noises that may be considered normal, like someone drinking champagne, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or eating the holiday meal can cause a powerful reaction that can even lead to them avoiding social settings altogether.
Jenna, a young adult, who has experienced sound sensitivity since aged 10, says currently her plan is to use headphones to get through dinner. On any other day, she would usually isolate herself in a different room to escape problematic noises.
She says her sensitivity is more intense around people she's most familiar with, so Christmas is always "difficult".
"There is pressure to be around family, and I desire to, but it's physically and mentally challenging.
"The sensation is this sudden rage comes over me, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel stressed and begin to weep and then the stress response will activate.
"It can come across as if I'm being unreasonable and dramatic, but it's hard to explain unless you've experienced it."
A Few Techniques to Manage
If you suffer then there are various strategies you can attempt to manage the situation, according to clinical psychologists.
- Picture a Different Scenario: Mental imagery is key. Work on connecting the particular sound bothering you with a neutral concept. For instance, try to imagine someone's noisy drinking is just a sink draining water. This technique is to retrain your mind that the sound triggering you is neutral.
- Try a Competition: Introduce playfulness and make the irritating noise into a game involving the source. As an example, if someone is crunching loudly attempt copying the noise. Through participation, instead of feeling like the sound is unwanted, you become an active participant. And the game aspect should help shift your attention and make you slightly more tolerant.
- Craft a Story: A further strategy is to try to invent a reason about the reason someone creating the sound is behaving that way. So if someone was sniffing, perhaps they're not at their best or are troubled. By doing this is changing the meaning of the sound. Although the sound doesn't change, your understanding of it shifts from being annoying, to feeling a little more neutral towards it.
