Yuletide Transforms Into a Nightmare for Misophonia Sufferers.
One young woman hopes for spending time with her relatives during the festive period, but says one of the only ways she'll manage to get through it is by relying on her noise-cancelling devices - notably for Christmas dinner.
For the 23-year-old, Christmas often feels like a especially challenging period as the sounds of people eating, drinking noisily and breathing heavily trigger extremely uncomfortable.
"I experience this feeling of sudden panic, my whole body will just freeze and it as though I'm in peril, and I need to stop these noises."
The individual has lived with this condition since she was 16 and for her that renders the Christmas time "exceptionally stressful".
Misophonia is a decreased threshold to certain sounds, notably sounds made by other people.
It's surprisingly common amongst adults. Experts discovered almost one in five people are affected by it.
Frequently it's sounds linked to bodily functions that lead to discomfort, as well as things like crunching, heavy breathing, and pen clicking.
'Anxiety Inducing'
She explains: "I face so many various auditory triggers at Christmas and that can be anxiety inducing and make you dread it.
"My relatives are understanding, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a constant struggle of enduring my distress to make sure others enjoy themselves."
So it's clear why the traditionally happy time of the year can transform into a source of agony for sufferers.
Noises that may seem harmless, like someone sipping a beverage, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or eating the holiday meal can trigger a powerful reaction that can even cause them skipping events entirely.
Jenna, a 21-year-old student, who has struggled with sound sensitivity since aged 10, says her strategy is to put her earphones in to manage the meal. On any other day, she would often retreat in a separate space to avoid triggering sounds.
She explains her sensitivity is more pronounced around people she's closest to, so the holidays is always "challenging".
"People assume you to socialize with loved ones, and I want to, but it's draining.
"The sensation is this sudden rage washes over me, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel panicked and burst into tears and then panic will kick in.
"It may seem as if I'm being unreasonable and melodramatic, but it's difficult to convey without firsthand experience."
Three Ways to Handle It
If you suffer then there are various strategies you can try to cope the situation, based on advice from specialists.
- Visualise Something Else: Imagination is crucial. Work on connecting the specific noise causing distress with an unrelated image. So for example, try to envision someone's slurping is just a gentle stream. By doing this is to teach your brain that the sound affecting you poses no threat.
- Try a Competition: Have a bit of fun and make the irritating noise into a challenge involving the source. As an example, if someone is eating noisily have a go at mimicking the sound. By joining in, rather than feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an active participant. And the game aspect should help shift your attention and make you a little less affected.
- Create a Scenario: One more method is to try to create a little story about the reason someone creating the sound is behaving that way. For example if someone was making a nasal sound, it could be that they're not in good health or could be emotional. This approach is altering the perception of the sound. While the sound remains identical, your interpretation of it changes from being annoying, to feeling a little more neutral towards it.
