Christmas Often Proves to Be a Terrifying Experience for Those with Misophonia.

One young woman is looking forward to being with her relatives during the festive period, but admits a key strategy she'll manage to get through it is by relying on her noise-cancelling devices - particularly at the main festive feast.

In her case, Christmas is a especially challenging season as the noises of family members munching, sipping loudly and breathing heavily make her feel profound anxiety.

"I experience this sensation of immediate anxiety, my whole body will just tighten and it seems as if I'm in peril, and I need to manage these noises."

Lottie has lived with misophonia from a young age and for her that causes the Christmas time "incredibly overwhelming".

Misophonia is a reduced tolerance to certain sounds, especially noises coming from other people.

It is prevalent amongst adults. Researchers discovered almost one in five people suffer from it.

Often it's sounds associated with eating or drinking that lead to discomfort, along with things like crunching, heavy breathing, and foot tapping.

A Source of Dread

Lottie says: "There are so many different triggering sounds at the holidays and that can be stressful and make you want to avoid it.

"My relatives are understanding, but I'm very aware that I don't want to spoil the mood. It's like a constant struggle of enduring my distress to guarantee everyone else is happy."

So it's obvious why the traditionally happy season can quickly turn into a living nightmare for sufferers.

Sounds that may seem harmless, like someone sipping a beverage, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or eating the holiday meal can provoke a visceral feeling that can even result in them avoiding social settings altogether.

She, a 21-year-old student, who has experienced sound sensitivity from childhood, states the approach she intends to use is to use headphones to cope. Usually, she would often retreat in a separate space to avoid distressing triggers.

She notes her condition is worse around people she's most comfortable with, so the holidays is always "difficult".

"There is pressure to spend time with loved ones, and I wish to, but it's exhausting on all levels.

"I feel as if this sudden rage takes hold, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel anxious and begin to weep and then panic will kick in.

"To others it appears as if I'm being oversensitive and overreacting, but it's hard to explain if you haven't felt it."

Several Strategies to Handle It

For those affected then there are a few methods you can use to handle the situation, as suggested by clinical psychologists.

1. Picture Something Else: Mental imagery is essential. Work on connecting the particular sound bothering you with something completely different. As an illustration, try to imagine someone's slurping is just a gentle stream. By doing this is to retrain your mind that the sound triggering you is neutral.
2. Use Humor: Use lightheartedness and make the irritating noise into a competition involving the source. For instance, if someone is crunching loudly have a go at mimicking the sound. Through participation, rather than feeling like the sound is unwanted, you become an engaged person. And the game aspect should help distract your brain and make you slightly more tolerant.
3. Craft a Story: Another technique is to try to create a little story about the reason someone creating the sound is doing it. Imagine if someone was making a nasal sound, it could be that they're not at their best or are troubled. This approach is re-framing the context of the sound. Even though the noise doesn't change, your reaction of it shifts from being aggravating, to feeling a slightly more compassionate towards it.