🔗 Share this article The Holiday Season Transforms Into a Living Hell for Those with Misophonia. Through experience, individuals discover ways to handle their misophonia. Lottie hopes for spending time with her relatives during the festive period, but admits a key strategy she'll endure is by relying on her noise-cancelling devices - particularly at Christmas dinner. For the 23-year-old, this time of year often feels like a particularly difficult time as the auditory triggers of family members munching, drinking noisily and breathing heavily trigger extremely uncomfortable. "There's this sensation of sudden panic, my every muscle will just tense up and it seems as if I'm in peril, and I need to manage these sounds." The individual has lived with sound sensitivity for several years and for her that causes the festive season "incredibly overwhelming". Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to certain sounds, especially noises coming from individuals. It's surprisingly common in the UK. Researchers found nearly 20% people experience it. Frequently it's noises associated with eating or drinking that trigger a reaction, along with examples such as chewing, breathing, and foot tapping. 'Anxiety Inducing' She explains: "I face so many assorted problematic noises at the holidays and that can be daunting and make you fear it. "Those close to me are aware, but I'm very conscious that I don't want to spoil the mood. It's like a really big battle of sacrificing my own sanity to make sure the event goes smoothly." So it's easy to understand why the traditionally happy time of the year can quickly turn into a stressful ordeal for affected individuals. Sounds that may seem harmless, like someone drinking champagne, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or tucking into a Christmas dinner can cause a strong emotional response that can even cause them skipping events entirely. Another individual is considering strategies to get her through the family meal. Jenna, a 21-year-old student, who has dealt with sound sensitivity for over a decade, explains her strategy is to use headphones to get through dinner. On any other day, she would frequently go in a quiet area to minimize problematic noises. She says her sensitivity is more pronounced around people she's most comfortable with, so Christmas is always "hard". "People assume you to socialize with family, and I desire to, but it's exhausting on all levels. "The sensation is this sudden rage takes hold, which can feel embarrassing, or I'll feel anxious and immediately start crying and then the stress response will take over. "It can come across as if I'm being oversensitive and overreacting, but it's hard to explain if you haven't felt it." A Few Techniques to Handle It If you suffer then there are a few methods you can try to cope the situation, based on advice from experts. Picture Something Else: Creative thinking is essential. Try to associate the triggering sound affecting you with a neutral concept. As an illustration, try to imagine someone's noisy drinking is just a gentle stream. The goal is to help your brain learn that the sound triggering you isn't harmful. Use Humor: Introduce playfulness and make the irritating noise into a competition with the culprit. For instance, if someone is eating noisily attempt mimicking the sound. By joining in, rather than feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an willing part. And the challenge should help shift your attention and make you slightly more tolerant. Craft a Story: One more method is to try to create a little story about the reason someone making the noise is behaving that way. Imagine if someone was making a nasal sound, maybe they are not at their best or could be emotional. The idea is altering the perception of the sound. Although the noise doesn't change, your understanding of it shifts from being annoying, to feeling a slightly more compassionate about it.
Through experience, individuals discover ways to handle their misophonia. Lottie hopes for spending time with her relatives during the festive period, but admits a key strategy she'll endure is by relying on her noise-cancelling devices - particularly at Christmas dinner. For the 23-year-old, this time of year often feels like a particularly difficult time as the auditory triggers of family members munching, drinking noisily and breathing heavily trigger extremely uncomfortable. "There's this sensation of sudden panic, my every muscle will just tense up and it seems as if I'm in peril, and I need to manage these sounds." The individual has lived with sound sensitivity for several years and for her that causes the festive season "incredibly overwhelming". Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to certain sounds, especially noises coming from individuals. It's surprisingly common in the UK. Researchers found nearly 20% people experience it. Frequently it's noises associated with eating or drinking that trigger a reaction, along with examples such as chewing, breathing, and foot tapping. 'Anxiety Inducing' She explains: "I face so many assorted problematic noises at the holidays and that can be daunting and make you fear it. "Those close to me are aware, but I'm very conscious that I don't want to spoil the mood. It's like a really big battle of sacrificing my own sanity to make sure the event goes smoothly." So it's easy to understand why the traditionally happy time of the year can quickly turn into a stressful ordeal for affected individuals. Sounds that may seem harmless, like someone drinking champagne, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or tucking into a Christmas dinner can cause a strong emotional response that can even cause them skipping events entirely. Another individual is considering strategies to get her through the family meal. Jenna, a 21-year-old student, who has dealt with sound sensitivity for over a decade, explains her strategy is to use headphones to get through dinner. On any other day, she would frequently go in a quiet area to minimize problematic noises. She says her sensitivity is more pronounced around people she's most comfortable with, so Christmas is always "hard". "People assume you to socialize with family, and I desire to, but it's exhausting on all levels. "The sensation is this sudden rage takes hold, which can feel embarrassing, or I'll feel anxious and immediately start crying and then the stress response will take over. "It can come across as if I'm being oversensitive and overreacting, but it's hard to explain if you haven't felt it." A Few Techniques to Handle It If you suffer then there are a few methods you can try to cope the situation, based on advice from experts. Picture Something Else: Creative thinking is essential. Try to associate the triggering sound affecting you with a neutral concept. As an illustration, try to imagine someone's noisy drinking is just a gentle stream. The goal is to help your brain learn that the sound triggering you isn't harmful. Use Humor: Introduce playfulness and make the irritating noise into a competition with the culprit. For instance, if someone is eating noisily attempt mimicking the sound. By joining in, rather than feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an willing part. And the challenge should help shift your attention and make you slightly more tolerant. Craft a Story: One more method is to try to create a little story about the reason someone making the noise is behaving that way. Imagine if someone was making a nasal sound, maybe they are not at their best or could be emotional. The idea is altering the perception of the sound. Although the noise doesn't change, your understanding of it shifts from being annoying, to feeling a slightly more compassionate about it.