The Holiday Season Often Proves to Be a Nightmare for Individuals Living with Sound Sensitivity.
Lottie hopes for spending time with her loved ones this Christmas, but notes a primary method she'll endure is by wearing her noise-cancelling devices - particularly at the main festive feast.
In her case, the holidays is a especially challenging period as the noises of other people chewing, drinking noisily and breathing heavily cause her intense distress.
"I experience this wave of immediate anxiety, my entire being will just freeze and it feels like I'm in danger, and I need to manage these triggers."
The individual has lived with sound sensitivity since she was 16 and for her that makes the Christmas time "exceptionally stressful".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to certain sounds, especially noises made by other people.
The condition is widespread across the population. Experts discovered nearly 20% people suffer from it.
Typically it's sounds associated with bodily functions that trigger a reaction, including things like chewing, heavy breathing, and foot tapping.
A Source of Dread
Lottie says: "There are so many different triggering sounds at Christmas and that can be stressful and make you dread it.
"Those close to me are aware, but I'm very aware that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a constant struggle of enduring my distress to guarantee the event goes smoothly."
So it's easy to understand why the most wonderful period can rapidly become a stressful ordeal for sufferers.
Sounds that may seem harmless, like someone slurping a Buck's fizz, unwrapping gifts, or eating the holiday meal can provoke a visceral feeling that can even cause them skipping events entirely.
She, a 21-year-old student, who has dealt with sound sensitivity from childhood, says currently her plan is to use headphones to manage the meal. On any other day, she would frequently go in a different room to avoid distressing triggers.
She says her misophonia is worse around people she's closest to, so the holidays is always "challenging".
"People assume you to socialize with family, and I want to, but it's draining.
"The sensation is this intense irritation takes hold, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel anxious and burst into tears and then panic will activate.
"It may seem as if I'm being difficult and dramatic, but it's difficult to convey unless you've experienced it."
A Few Techniques to Cope
If it's an issue then there are various strategies you can use to handle the situation, based on advice from clinical psychologists.
- Visualise a Different Scenario: Mental imagery is essential. Work on connecting the particular sound affecting you with a neutral concept. As an illustration, try to imagine 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.
- Use Humor: Use lightheartedness and make the irritating noise into a challenge with the person. As an example, if someone is eating noisily try mimicking the sound. By mimicking, instead of feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an engaged person. And the challenge should help shift your attention and make you a little less affected.
- Craft a Story: One more method is to try to fabricate an explanation about why the person making the noise is having to make that sound. So if someone was making a nasal sound, perhaps they're not feeling well or are troubled. The idea is changing the meaning of the sound. Even though the sound stays the same, your understanding of it shifts from being aggravating, to feeling a bit more accepting about it.
