🔗 Share this article The Holiday Season Transforms Into a Nightmare for Misophonia Sufferers. Through experience, sufferers develop strategies to cope with their condition. One young woman hopes for spending time with her relatives during the festive period, but notes a key strategy she'll endure is by wearing her noise-cancelling devices - notably for the main festive feast. For her, Christmas can be a especially challenging season as the auditory triggers of other people chewing, drinking noisily and nose-blowing cause her extremely uncomfortable. "I get this sensation of immediate anxiety, my whole body will just tighten and it feels like I'm in peril, and I need to manage these noises." The individual has experienced this condition from a young age and for her that causes the holiday period "exceptionally stressful". Misophonia is a decreased threshold to certain sounds, particularly those coming from other people. It is prevalent across the population. A study reported a significant portion of people experience it. Often it's noises connected to bodily functions that cause distress, as well as examples such as chewing, breathing, and pen clicking. 'Anxiety Inducing' Lottie says: "I face so many various auditory triggers at the holidays and that can be daunting and make you want to avoid it. "My relatives are understanding, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to spoil the mood. It's like a really big battle of sacrificing my own sanity to guarantee everyone else is happy." So it's clear why the most wonderful season can transform into a stressful ordeal for affected individuals. Noises that may seem harmless, like someone sipping a beverage, unwrapping gifts, or enjoying festive food can provoke a powerful reaction that can even cause them withdrawing from gatherings. Jenna is planning ways to manage the family meal. The student, a young adult, who has dealt with misophonia for over a decade, says the approach she intends to use is to put her earphones in to cope. Usually, she would frequently go in a quiet area to avoid problematic noises. She says her condition is more intense around people she's most comfortable with, so the holidays is always "hard". "People assume you to socialize with loved ones, and I desire to, but it's draining. "It's like this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel stressed and immediately start crying and then the stress response will take over. "It may seem as if I'm being unreasonable and dramatic, but it's hard to explain if you haven't felt it." Three Ways to Manage If you suffer then there are some different techniques you can try to cope the situation, according to experts. Visualise Something Else: Imagination is key. Try to associate the triggering sound affecting you with an unrelated image. So for example, try to envision someone's noisy drinking is just a waterfall. This technique is to retrain your mind that the sound triggering you is neutral. Make it a Game: Use lightheartedness and turn the annoying sound into a game with the person. For instance, if someone is eating noisily try mimicking the sound. Through participation, instead of feeling like the sound is unwanted, you become an engaged person. And the challenge should help redirect your focus and make you slightly more tolerant. Create a Scenario: Another technique is to try to create a little story about the reason someone creating the sound is behaving that way. For example if someone was sniffing, it could be that they're not in good health or maybe they're upset. By doing this is altering the perception of the sound. Although the sound stays the same, your reaction of it shifts from being aggravating, to feeling a little more neutral towards it.
Through experience, sufferers develop strategies to cope with their condition. One young woman hopes for spending time with her relatives during the festive period, but notes a key strategy she'll endure is by wearing her noise-cancelling devices - notably for the main festive feast. For her, Christmas can be a especially challenging season as the auditory triggers of other people chewing, drinking noisily and nose-blowing cause her extremely uncomfortable. "I get this sensation of immediate anxiety, my whole body will just tighten and it feels like I'm in peril, and I need to manage these noises." The individual has experienced this condition from a young age and for her that causes the holiday period "exceptionally stressful". Misophonia is a decreased threshold to certain sounds, particularly those coming from other people. It is prevalent across the population. A study reported a significant portion of people experience it. Often it's noises connected to bodily functions that cause distress, as well as examples such as chewing, breathing, and pen clicking. 'Anxiety Inducing' Lottie says: "I face so many various auditory triggers at the holidays and that can be daunting and make you want to avoid it. "My relatives are understanding, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to spoil the mood. It's like a really big battle of sacrificing my own sanity to guarantee everyone else is happy." So it's clear why the most wonderful season can transform into a stressful ordeal for affected individuals. Noises that may seem harmless, like someone sipping a beverage, unwrapping gifts, or enjoying festive food can provoke a powerful reaction that can even cause them withdrawing from gatherings. Jenna is planning ways to manage the family meal. The student, a young adult, who has dealt with misophonia for over a decade, says the approach she intends to use is to put her earphones in to cope. Usually, she would frequently go in a quiet area to avoid problematic noises. She says her condition is more intense around people she's most comfortable with, so the holidays is always "hard". "People assume you to socialize with loved ones, and I desire to, but it's draining. "It's like this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel stressed and immediately start crying and then the stress response will take over. "It may seem as if I'm being unreasonable and dramatic, but it's hard to explain if you haven't felt it." Three Ways to Manage If you suffer then there are some different techniques you can try to cope the situation, according to experts. Visualise Something Else: Imagination is key. Try to associate the triggering sound affecting you with an unrelated image. So for example, try to envision someone's noisy drinking is just a waterfall. This technique is to retrain your mind that the sound triggering you is neutral. Make it a Game: Use lightheartedness and turn the annoying sound into a game with the person. For instance, if someone is eating noisily try mimicking the sound. Through participation, instead of feeling like the sound is unwanted, you become an engaged person. And the challenge should help redirect your focus and make you slightly more tolerant. Create a Scenario: Another technique is to try to create a little story about the reason someone creating the sound is behaving that way. For example if someone was sniffing, it could be that they're not in good health or maybe they're upset. By doing this is altering the perception of the sound. Although the sound stays the same, your reaction of it shifts from being aggravating, to feeling a little more neutral towards it.