One young woman hopes for seeing her relatives over the holidays, but notes a key strategy she'll manage to get through it is by relying on her hearing protection - especially during Christmas dinner.
For her, Christmas often feels like a especially challenging season as the sounds of people eating, drinking noisily and breathing heavily trigger extremely uncomfortable.
"I experience this feeling of immediate anxiety, my whole body will just freeze and it seems as if I'm in danger, and I need to stop these sounds."
She has lived with this condition since she was 16 and for her that renders the Christmas time "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is a decreased threshold to certain sounds, especially noises produced by those around you.
The condition is widespread amongst adults. Researchers found almost one in five people are affected by it.
Often it's noises linked to bodily functions that trigger a reaction, including examples such as crunching, breathing, and foot tapping.
A Source of Dread
Lottie says: "You encounter so many various auditory triggers at Christmas and that can be anxiety inducing and make you fear it.
"My relatives are aware, but I'm very aware that I don't want to upset others. It's like a really big battle of managing my symptoms to make sure the event goes smoothly."
So it's easy to understand why the most wonderful time of the year can quickly turn into a source of agony for affected individuals.
Sounds that may be considered normal, like someone slurping a Buck's fizz, unwrapping gifts, or tucking into a Christmas dinner can trigger a visceral feeling that can even lead to them avoiding social settings altogether.
Jenna, a young adult, who has dealt with sound sensitivity since aged 10, states currently her plan is to put her earphones in to cope. Typically, she would often retreat in a quiet area to minimize distressing triggers.
She says her misophonia is more pronounced around people she's most familiar with, so Christmas is always "challenging".
"There's an expectation to spend time with loved ones, and I want to, but it's draining.
"The sensation is this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel anxious and burst into tears and then panic will kick in.
"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 Manage
If you suffer then there are some different techniques you can attempt to manage the situation, according to specialists.
- Visualise a Different Scenario: Creative thinking is key. Work on connecting the particular sound causing distress with an unrelated image. As an illustration, try to picture someone's noisy drinking is just a sink draining water. By doing this is to teach your brain that the sound triggering you isn't harmful.
- Try a Competition: Have a bit of fun and make the irritating noise into a challenge with the person. For instance, if someone is eating noisily try mimicking the sound. Through participation, instead of feeling like the sound is being imposed on you, you become an willing part. And the game aspect should help shift your attention and make you a little less affected.
- Develop a Narrative: A further strategy is to try to fabricate an explanation about the reason someone creating the sound is having to make that sound. So if someone was sniffing, it could be that they're not in good health or are troubled. This approach is changing the meaning of the sound. Although the noise doesn't change, your reaction of it moves from being aggravating, to feeling a little more neutral towards it.
