[PT: What is Misophonia? /end PT]
Misophonia is a neurophysiological and sensory disorder. It causes intense, negative reactions to certain ‘trigger’ sounds. Said individual with Misophonia CANNOT control how they react. There is no time limit to how long it takes a person to recover from being triggered.
Emotional reactions are typically shown as unproportionate anxiety, distress, rage, disgust, and hatred. Physical reactions are typically shown as increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, sweating, chest pressure, and nausea.
Someone with Misophonia can react to visual stimuli due to associating whatever visual with a trigger noise.
While Misophonia is not an official diagnosis in the DSM-V, you can be professionally evaluated and receive an assessment for Misophonia.
How Can it Be Debilitating?
[PT: How Can it Be Debilitating? /end PT]
Misophonia triggers a fight-or-flight response in a person, which can cause them to compromise their social, professional, and domestic life in hopes of avoiding or ‘managing’ said triggers.
People with Misophonia often experience chronic anxiety and dread of encountering trigger sounds that causes them to be in a constant state of alertness, always anticipating that someone (or something) will happen to make a trigger. This can cause an increased likelihood of Depression, General Anxiety, and Obsessive-Compulsive traits.
The anticipation of trigger sounds consequently causes social isolation, avoidance behaviors, interpersonal conflicts, and verbal or physical aggression.
People tend to avoid sharing meals, public transportation, or crowded social gatherings. Wearing noise-canceling headphones constantly or leaving rooms abruptly are common. Acting out aggressively toward objects or the individual making the sound. Strained relationships with family, friends, or coworkers who inadvertently make the trigger sounds.
What Are Common Triggers?
[PT: What Are Common Triggers? /end PT]
Trigger noises are listed, but not limited to:
Chewing, smacking of lips, swallowing, crunching, sipping, slurping.
Heavy breathing, snoring, sighing, yawning, whistling, hiccups, coughing, sniffing.
Water dripping, clock ticking, keys rattling, leg bouncing, pen clicking, writing, tapping, cracking joints, snapping.
Birds chirping/singing, barking, meowing, snorting.
A person with Misophonia can experience any amount of triggers.
How is Misophonia Treated?
[PT: How is Misophonia Treated? /end PT]
Misophonia is not a curable condition, and trying to force someone to ‘recover’ from said condition is sensory ableism and saneism.
Exposure Therapy almost never works for Misophonia, and can actually worsen one’s condition. Because you don’t naturally habituate to trigger sounds, direct exposure can intensify your fight-or-flight response, increase sensitivity, and create new triggers.
Coping strategies include wearing earplugs, noise-cancelling headphones, or earbuds. Holding ice / an ice pack, running cold water over your hands, using a fidget tool, box-breathing, counting backwards from one-hundred (100), and reciting lyrics from a song.
