Yuletide Often Proves to Be a Living Hell for Misophonia Sufferers.
Lottie hopes for spending time with her loved ones this Christmas, but notes one of the only ways she'll endure is by wearing her hearing protection - especially during Christmas dinner.
For her, this time of year often feels like a particularly difficult season as the sounds of family members munching, sipping loudly and nose-blowing cause her extremely uncomfortable.
"There's this feeling of immediate anxiety, my every muscle will just freeze and it seems as if I'm in peril, and I need to manage these triggers."
Lottie has suffered from sound sensitivity from a young age and for her that renders the festive season "deeply taxing".
Misophonia is a reduced tolerance to particular auditory triggers, notably sounds produced by other people.
It is prevalent across the population. Experts found a significant portion of people experience it.
Typically it's noises associated with bodily functions that cause distress, as well as things like chewing, heavy breathing, and repetitive finger tapping.
A Source of Dread
Lottie says: "You encounter so many various auditory triggers at Christmas and that can be stressful and make you want to avoid it.
"My family are understanding, but I'm very conscious that I don't want to upset others. It's like a really big battle of enduring my distress to make sure everyone else is happy."
So it's easy to understand why the most wonderful season can transform into a source of agony for sufferers.
Triggers that may be considered normal, like someone drinking champagne, opening presents, or tucking into a Christmas dinner can provoke a visceral feeling that can even cause them skipping events entirely.
She, a young adult, who has struggled with misophonia from childhood, says currently her plan is to listen to music to manage the meal. Usually, she would usually isolate herself in a quiet area to avoid distressing triggers.
She notes her condition is more intense around people she's most familiar with, so Christmas is always "difficult".
"People assume you to socialize with loved ones, and I desire to, but it's physically and mentally challenging.
"It's like this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel embarrassing, or I'll feel stressed and immediately start crying and then fight-or-flight will kick in.
"It may seem as if I'm being oversensitive and overreacting, but it's hard to explain if you haven't felt it."
Three Ways to Handle It
If you suffer then there are various strategies you can attempt to manage the situation, based on advice from specialists.
- Visualise an Alternative: Creative thinking is key. Work on connecting the triggering sound affecting you with a neutral concept. As an illustration, try to envision someone's noisy drinking is just a sink draining water. The goal is to help your brain learn that the sound affecting you isn't harmful.
- Make it a Game: Introduce playfulness and make the irritating noise into a competition with the person. For example, if someone is eating noisily attempt copying the noise. Through participation, instead of feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an willing part. And the challenge should help shift your attention and make you slightly more tolerant.
- Develop a Narrative: A further strategy is to try to create a little story about why the person creating the sound is behaving that way. For example if someone was sniffing, perhaps they're not in good health or maybe they're upset. By doing this is changing the meaning of the sound. Although the noise doesn't change, your reaction of it moves from being irritating, to feeling a little more neutral towards it.