Christmas Transforms Into a Terrifying Experience for Individuals Living with Sound Sensitivity.
Lottie anticipates seeing her loved ones over the holidays, but says a key strategy she'll manage to get through it is by relying on her earplugs - especially during the main festive feast.
For her, this time of year can be a especially challenging season as the auditory triggers of other people chewing, sipping loudly and breathing heavily cause her profound anxiety.
"There's this wave of instant dread, my whole body will just tense up and it seems as if I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to somehow control these sounds."
The individual has experienced sound sensitivity from a young age and for her that makes the holiday period "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to particular auditory triggers, notably sounds coming from those around you.
The condition is widespread across the population. Experts discovered a significant portion of people suffer from it.
Often it's sounds associated with mouth, throat or facial movements that trigger a reaction, as well as things like chewing, heavy breathing, and foot tapping.
'Anxiety Inducing'
The sufferer notes: "There are so many assorted problematic noises at Christmas and that can be anxiety inducing and make you fear it.
"My relatives are aware, but I'm very conscious that I don't want to upset others. It's like a constant struggle of sacrificing my own sanity to ensure others enjoy themselves."
So it's clear why the supposedly joyous time of the year can quickly turn into a source of agony for sufferers.
Noises that may appear innocuous, like someone drinking champagne, unwrapping gifts, or enjoying festive food can trigger a strong emotional response that can even cause them skipping events entirely.
Jenna, a university student, who has struggled with misophonia for over a decade, says the approach she intends to use is to listen to music to cope. On any other day, she would often retreat in a separate space to escape problematic noises.
She says her misophonia is more pronounced around people she's most comfortable with, so Christmas is always "difficult".
"There's an expectation to be around family, and I wish to, but it's draining.
"It's like this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel panicked and begin to weep and then fight-or-flight will take over.
"It can come across as if I'm being unreasonable and dramatic, but it's hard to explain unless you've experienced it."
Several Strategies to Handle It
If it's an issue then there are a few methods you can try to cope the situation, based on advice from clinical psychologists.
- Visualise a Different Scenario: Mental imagery is crucial. Attempt to link the specific noise affecting you with something completely different. For instance, try to imagine someone's noisy drinking is just a gentle stream. This technique is to teach your brain that the sound affecting you is neutral.
- Try a Competition: Introduce playfulness and turn the annoying sound into a competition with the culprit. As an example, if someone is eating noisily have a go at mimicking the sound. Through participation, instead of feeling like the sound is unwanted, you become an engaged person. And the game aspect should help distract your brain and make you somewhat less sensitive.
- Craft a Story: One more method 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, maybe they are not in good health or maybe they're upset. By doing this is re-framing the context of the sound. Even though the sound remains identical, your reaction of it changes from being aggravating, to feeling a bit more accepting towards it.
