Yuletide Often Proves to Be a Nightmare for Those with Misophonia.
Lottie anticipates seeing her relatives this Christmas, but admits a key strategy she'll endure is by using her hearing protection - especially during the main festive feast.
For the 23-year-old, this time of year is a particularly difficult period as the noises of family members munching, slurping and breathing heavily make her feel profound anxiety.
"I experience this feeling of immediate anxiety, my every muscle will just tense up and it seems as if I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to somehow control these sounds."
Lottie has lived with sound sensitivity for several years and for her that causes the holiday period "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to particular auditory triggers, particularly those coming from those around you.
The condition is widespread across the population. A study found a significant portion of people are affected by it.
Typically it's noises connected to mouth, throat or facial movements that lead to discomfort, including examples such as chewing, heavy breathing, and foot tapping.
Triggering Stress
Lottie says: "There are so many various auditory triggers at the holidays and that can be stressful and make you fear it.
"My relatives are aware, but I'm very aware that I don't want to spoil the mood. It's like a internal conflict of enduring my distress to make sure everyone else is happy."
So it's obvious why the traditionally happy season can transform into a stressful ordeal for those with the condition.
Triggers that may seem harmless, like someone drinking champagne, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or tucking into a Christmas dinner can trigger a powerful reaction that can even result in them avoiding social settings altogether.
The student, a young adult, who has dealt with misophonia from childhood, says the approach she intends to use is to put her earphones in to cope. Usually, she would frequently go in a quiet area to minimize triggering sounds.
She says her misophonia is more intense around people she's most comfortable with, so the holidays is always "challenging".
"People assume you to socialize with family, and I wish to, but it's physically and mentally challenging.
"The sensation is this sudden rage comes over me, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel stressed and immediately start crying and then panic will activate.
"It can come across as if I'm being oversensitive and overreacting, but it's tough to describe unless you've experienced it."
Several Strategies to Handle It
For those affected then there are various strategies you can attempt to manage the situation, according to specialists.
- Visualise an Alternative: Imagination is crucial. Try to associate the specific noise causing distress with something completely different. For instance, try to imagine someone's noisy drinking is just a sink draining water. By doing this 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 game with the person. For example, if someone is eating noisily try joining in. By joining in, rather than feeling like the sound is unwanted, you become an engaged person. And the challenge should help shift your attention and make you somewhat less sensitive.
- Develop a Narrative: One more method is to try to fabricate an explanation about the reason someone making the noise is behaving that way. So if someone was sniffing, it could be that they're not feeling well or are troubled. The idea is re-framing the context of the sound. Even though the noise doesn't change, your interpretation of it moves from being annoying, to feeling a slightly more compassionate about it.
