The Holiday Season Transforms Into a Living Hell for Individuals Living with Sound Sensitivity.
One young woman hopes for being with her relatives over the holidays, but admits a key strategy she'll endure is by wearing her noise-cancelling devices - especially during the holiday meal.
For her, the holidays often feels like a especially challenging period as the auditory triggers of other people chewing, slurping and breathing heavily trigger extremely uncomfortable.
"There's this feeling of immediate anxiety, my whole body will just tighten and it seems as if I'm in danger, and I need to manage these noises."
She has experienced misophonia for several years and for her that makes the Christmas time "exceptionally stressful".
Misophonia is a reduced tolerance to certain sounds, particularly those produced by individuals.
It is prevalent amongst adults. Experts reported nearly 20% people are affected by it.
Frequently it's noises associated with bodily functions that lead to discomfort, along with examples such as crunching, heavy breathing, and foot tapping.
'Anxiety Inducing'
Lottie says: "You encounter so many assorted problematic noises at Christmas and that can be anxiety inducing and make you dread it.
"My relatives are understanding, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to upset others. It's like a internal conflict of enduring my distress to ensure everyone else is happy."
So it's easy to understand why the most wonderful period can quickly turn into a source of agony for sufferers.
Noises that may be considered normal, like someone sipping a beverage, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or tucking into a Christmas dinner can trigger a strong emotional response that can even result in them avoiding social settings altogether.
She, a 21-year-old student, who has struggled with misophonia since aged 10, states the approach she intends to use is to listen to music to get through dinner. On any other day, she would frequently go in a quiet area to minimize problematic noises.
She notes her misophonia is more intense around people she's most comfortable with, so the holidays is always "challenging".
"People assume you to socialize with loved ones, and I want to, but it's draining.
"It's like this uncontrollable anger takes hold, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel anxious and immediately start crying and then panic will take over.
"To others it appears as if I'm being oversensitive and melodramatic, but it's difficult to convey if you haven't felt it."
Three Ways to Manage
If it's an issue then there are various strategies you can try to cope the situation, based on advice from clinical psychologists.
- Picture a Different Scenario: Creative thinking is essential. Try to associate the triggering sound affecting you with an unrelated image. For instance, try to picture someone's slurping is just a sink draining water. By doing this is to retrain your mind that the sound affecting you is neutral.
- Use Humor: Have a bit of fun and turn the annoying sound into a game with the person. For example, if someone is crunching loudly attempt mimicking the sound. By mimicking, instead of feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an active participant. And the competition element should help redirect your focus and make you slightly more tolerant.
- Craft a Story: A further strategy is to try to fabricate an explanation about the reason someone making the noise is behaving that way. So if someone was making a nasal sound, it could be that they're not in good health or maybe they're upset. By doing this is re-framing the context of the sound. Even though the noise doesn't change, your understanding of it changes from being aggravating, to feeling a bit more accepting towards it.
