Yuletide Often Proves to Be a Living Hell for Misophonia Sufferers.
Lottie anticipates being with her loved ones during the festive period, but says one of the only ways she'll manage to get through it is by wearing her earplugs - particularly at the holiday meal.
For her, Christmas often feels like a especially challenging period as the sounds of family members munching, sipping loudly and breathing heavily trigger profound anxiety.
"I get this wave of instant dread, my whole body will just tighten and it feels like I'm in peril, and I need to manage these triggers."
The individual has lived with misophonia from a young age and for her that makes the holiday period "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is a decreased threshold to specific noises, notably sounds produced by those around you.
It's surprisingly common in the UK. Researchers found a significant portion of people experience it.
Often it's sounds associated with eating or drinking that lead to discomfort, as well as things like chewing, breathing, and foot tapping.
Triggering Stress
She explains: "You encounter so many different triggering sounds at Christmas and that can be stressful and make you dread it.
"Those close to me are supportive, but I'm very aware that I don't want to spoil the mood. It's like a really big battle of enduring my distress to guarantee the event goes smoothly."
So it's clear why the supposedly joyous season can quickly turn into a living nightmare for affected individuals.
Triggers that may seem harmless, like someone drinking champagne, unwrapping gifts, or eating the holiday meal can trigger a visceral feeling that can even lead to them skipping events entirely.
She, a university student, who has dealt with misophonia for over a decade, explains the approach she intends to use is to listen to music to cope. On any other day, she would usually isolate herself in a separate space to minimize distressing triggers.
She notes her condition is more intense around people she's closest to, so the holidays is always "hard".
"There's an expectation to be around loved ones, and I desire to, but it's exhausting on all levels.
"I feel as if this intense irritation takes hold, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel panicked and immediately start crying and then the stress response will activate.
"To others it appears as if I'm being difficult and melodramatic, but it's difficult to convey without firsthand experience."
Three Ways to Cope
For those affected then there are various strategies you can attempt to manage the situation, as suggested by specialists.
- Visualise Something Else: Mental imagery is crucial. Attempt to link the triggering sound bothering you with an unrelated image. As an illustration, try to imagine someone's noisy drinking is just a sink draining water. The goal is to retrain your mind that the sound triggering you poses no threat.
- Try a Competition: Have a bit of fun and make the irritating noise into a competition involving the source. For instance, if someone is crunching loudly try copying the noise. By mimicking, rather than feeling like the sound is being imposed on you, you become an active participant. And the challenge should help distract your brain and make you a little less affected.
- Create a Scenario: Another technique is to try to fabricate an explanation about why the person creating the sound is behaving that way. So if someone was sniffing, it could be that they're not at their best or could be emotional. The idea is re-framing the context of the sound. While the noise stays the same, your reaction of it shifts from being aggravating, to feeling a little more neutral about it.