🔗 Share this article The Holiday Season Often Proves to Be a Nightmare for Misophonia Sufferers. Over the years, people develop strategies to try to better manage their misophonia. A 23-year-old anticipates seeing her loved ones during the festive period, but notes a key strategy she'll cope is by relying on her noise-cancelling devices - particularly at Christmas dinner. For the 23-year-old, the holidays often feels like a especially challenging season as the noises of family members munching, drinking noisily and sniffling cause her extremely uncomfortable. "There's this wave of instant dread, my entire being will just tense up and it feels like I'm in peril, and I need to manage these sounds." Lottie has suffered from misophonia for several years and for her that renders the holiday period "deeply taxing". Misophonia is a reduced tolerance to particular auditory triggers, especially noises produced by individuals. The condition is widespread amongst adults. Experts reported almost one in five people are affected by it. Often it's noises connected to mouth, throat or facial movements that trigger a reaction, along with things like chewing, heavy breathing, and pen clicking. 'Anxiety Inducing' She explains: "I face so many various auditory triggers at Christmas and that can be daunting and make you want to avoid it. "Those close to me are aware, but I'm very aware that I don't want to upset others. It's like a internal conflict of enduring my distress to make sure others enjoy themselves." So it's easy to understand why the supposedly joyous season can rapidly become a source of agony for affected individuals. Triggers that may be considered normal, like someone drinking champagne, opening presents, or enjoying festive food can trigger a strong emotional response that can even cause them avoiding social settings altogether. A 21-year-old student is considering strategies to manage the family meal. She, a young adult, who has dealt with misophonia for over a decade, states currently her plan is to put her earphones in to cope. Usually, she would usually isolate herself in a different room to escape problematic noises. She notes her misophonia is more pronounced around people she's closest to, so the holidays is always "hard". "There's an expectation to socialize with loved ones, and I desire to, but it's exhausting on all levels. "It's like this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel anxious and burst into tears and then fight-or-flight will take over. "It may seem as if I'm being unreasonable and melodramatic, but it's hard to explain if you haven't felt it." A Few Techniques to Handle It If it's an issue then there are some different techniques you can try to cope the situation, as suggested by specialists. Visualise an Alternative: Creative thinking is essential. Attempt to link the triggering sound affecting you with a neutral concept. As an illustration, try to imagine someone's slurping is just a gentle stream. The goal is to retrain your mind that the sound triggering you poses no threat. Try a Competition: Introduce playfulness and turn the annoying sound into a challenge with the culprit. As an example, if someone is crunching loudly attempt joining in. Through participation, instead of feeling like the sound is being imposed on you, you become an willing part. And the game aspect should help distract your brain and make you slightly more tolerant. Develop a Narrative: A further strategy is to try to create a little story about why the person creating the sound is behaving that way. For example if someone was sniffing, perhaps they're not at their best or maybe they're upset. This approach is changing the meaning of the sound. Although the noise remains identical, your understanding of it shifts from being irritating, to feeling a little more neutral about it.
Over the years, people develop strategies to try to better manage their misophonia. A 23-year-old anticipates seeing her loved ones during the festive period, but notes a key strategy she'll cope is by relying on her noise-cancelling devices - particularly at Christmas dinner. For the 23-year-old, the holidays often feels like a especially challenging season as the noises of family members munching, drinking noisily and sniffling cause her extremely uncomfortable. "There's this wave of instant dread, my entire being will just tense up and it feels like I'm in peril, and I need to manage these sounds." Lottie has suffered from misophonia for several years and for her that renders the holiday period "deeply taxing". Misophonia is a reduced tolerance to particular auditory triggers, especially noises produced by individuals. The condition is widespread amongst adults. Experts reported almost one in five people are affected by it. Often it's noises connected to mouth, throat or facial movements that trigger a reaction, along with things like chewing, heavy breathing, and pen clicking. 'Anxiety Inducing' She explains: "I face so many various auditory triggers at Christmas and that can be daunting and make you want to avoid it. "Those close to me are aware, but I'm very aware that I don't want to upset others. It's like a internal conflict of enduring my distress to make sure others enjoy themselves." So it's easy to understand why the supposedly joyous season can rapidly become a source of agony for affected individuals. Triggers that may be considered normal, like someone drinking champagne, opening presents, or enjoying festive food can trigger a strong emotional response that can even cause them avoiding social settings altogether. A 21-year-old student is considering strategies to manage the family meal. She, a young adult, who has dealt with misophonia for over a decade, states currently her plan is to put her earphones in to cope. Usually, she would usually isolate herself in a different room to escape problematic noises. She notes her misophonia is more pronounced around people she's closest to, so the holidays is always "hard". "There's an expectation to socialize with loved ones, and I desire to, but it's exhausting on all levels. "It's like this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel anxious and burst into tears and then fight-or-flight will take over. "It may seem as if I'm being unreasonable and melodramatic, but it's hard to explain if you haven't felt it." A Few Techniques to Handle It If it's an issue then there are some different techniques you can try to cope the situation, as suggested by specialists. Visualise an Alternative: Creative thinking is essential. Attempt to link the triggering sound affecting you with a neutral concept. As an illustration, try to imagine someone's slurping is just a gentle stream. The goal is to retrain your mind that the sound triggering you poses no threat. Try a Competition: Introduce playfulness and turn the annoying sound into a challenge with the culprit. As an example, if someone is crunching loudly attempt joining in. Through participation, instead of feeling like the sound is being imposed on you, you become an willing part. And the game aspect should help distract your brain and make you slightly more tolerant. Develop a Narrative: A further strategy is to try to create a little story about why the person creating the sound is behaving that way. For example if someone was sniffing, perhaps they're not at their best or maybe they're upset. This approach is changing the meaning of the sound. Although the noise remains identical, your understanding of it shifts from being irritating, to feeling a little more neutral about it.