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Misophonia is little known, but it is more common than you think and has no treatment

Image: Khamkhor on Unsplash

Have you ever heard about misophony? Probably not, right? But she is much more familiar than she appears. Misophonia is a condition in which the individual cannot tolerate certain sounds emitted by close people, such as breathing or chewing.

People who do not have misophonia often do not even notice such noises and live with them normally, but individuals who suffer from misophonia may feel panic, anger or irritability when they hear these sounds that are so common in everyday life. To make matters worse, if these people are in constant contact with noise pollution, the level of irritability increases.

Daily impacts

Because they react so intensely to small noises, such as someone biting an apple, people who suffer from misophony end up moving away from their social circles, skipping lunch and dinner with their family to avoid certain sounds. They stay away from friends and even avoid going to public places, as they always find someone with chewing gum in their mouth or eating snacks.

Do I have misophony?

• Symptoms usually start appearing between 10 and 12 years of age;
• The "trigger" noises tend to be breathing and chewing;
• The closer the disturbed person emotionally to the "trigger," the more offensive the sound will be;
• The most common reaction is extreme anger;
• The triggering noise can cause a misophony sufferer to have an escape response in which the person feels the urge to be violent with the person making the sounds or to get away from the sound in any way.

People who suffer from misophonia are often misdiagnosed, often as having phobic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, or anxiety, bipolar, or manic disorders. Experts say the problem could be genetic and that it may not be a hearing disorder but a physiological flaw in parts of the brain that are activated by sound.

Treatment

For the time being there is no treatment or cure for misophony. What you can do is get away from people so you don't feel uncomfortable, take prescription drugs, do hypnosis and cognitive behavioral therapies. There are even online support groups for people suffering from misophony.