Yuletide Transforms Into a Nightmare for Individuals Living with Sound Sensitivity.
A 23-year-old anticipates spending time with her loved ones this Christmas, but says a key strategy she'll manage to get through it is by wearing her earplugs - notably for the holiday meal.
For her, Christmas is a notably tough season as the noises of family members munching, slurping and nose-blowing cause her extremely uncomfortable.
"I experience this wave of immediate anxiety, my entire being will just tighten and it as though I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to manage these triggers."
The individual has suffered from sound sensitivity since she was 16 and for her that renders the Christmas time "deeply taxing".
Misophonia is a reduced tolerance to particular auditory triggers, particularly those made by other people.
It's surprisingly common across the population. Experts discovered a significant portion of people experience it.
Often it's noises connected to eating or drinking that cause distress, including examples such as crunching, breathing, and repetitive finger tapping.
Triggering Stress
She explains: "There are so many assorted problematic noises at Christmas and that can be daunting and make you want to avoid it.
"Those close to me are understanding, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to upset others. It's like a constant struggle of sacrificing my own sanity to make sure everyone else is happy."
So it's obvious why the most wonderful season can quickly turn into a living nightmare for those with the condition.
Triggers that may appear innocuous, like someone drinking champagne, unwrapping gifts, or eating the holiday meal can provoke a strong emotional response that can even cause them avoiding social settings altogether.
Jenna, a 21-year-old student, who has dealt with misophonia for over a decade, says the approach she intends to use is to listen to music to cope. Usually, she would usually isolate herself in a quiet area to avoid triggering sounds.
She explains her misophonia is worse around people she's most familiar with, so Christmas is always "challenging".
"People assume you to spend time with family, and I want to, but it's physically and mentally challenging.
"The sensation is this uncontrollable anger takes hold, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel anxious and burst into tears and then the stress response will take over.
"It can come across as if I'm being unreasonable and melodramatic, but it's difficult to convey unless you've experienced it."
Three Ways to Handle It
If it's an issue then there are various strategies you can attempt to manage the situation, according to experts.
- Visualise Something Else: Creative thinking is essential. Try to associate the particular sound causing distress with something completely different. So for example, try to envision someone's noisy drinking is just a gentle stream. By doing this is to retrain your mind that the sound affecting you poses no threat.
- Try a Competition: Introduce playfulness and make the irritating noise into a game with the person. As an example, if someone is eating noisily have a go at copying the noise. By mimicking, rather than feeling like the sound is unwanted, you become an engaged person. And the challenge should help redirect your focus and make you somewhat less sensitive.
- Craft a Story: A further strategy is to try to fabricate an explanation about the reason someone creating the sound is doing it. Imagine if someone was making a nasal sound, it could be that they're not feeling well or maybe they're upset. This approach is re-framing the context of the sound. While the noise remains identical, your reaction of it changes from being aggravating, to feeling a slightly more compassionate about it.
