How to Deal With Misophonia

If there are certain sounds that trigger an extremely negative reaction in you, ranging from anger or annoyance to disgust or even panic, you may have a condition called misophonia . Trigger sounds can vary from person to person, including chomping, swallowing, breathing, smacking lips, sobbing or even clicking pens, rustling papers, or ticking clocks. But whatever the offensive sound for a particular person, it tends to elicit a strong emotional reaction out of proportion to the offensive sound, and may include bodily reactions such as an increase in heart rate or blood pressure.

“It’s not a benign thing, but rather a condition where people really struggle when they hear certain sounds, often from certain people,” said Eric Storch , a professor of psychology at Baylor College of Medicine , whose research focuses on misophonia.

From the outside, aversion to a certain sound may seem like a small thing, but for people suffering from misophonia, it can lead to them generally avoiding certain triggers or certain situations in which these sounds may be present. “These sounds create an increased level of stress, but also a fairly significant level of impairment in day-to-day functioning,” Storch said.

Tips for Dealing with Misophonia

So far, there has not been much research into misophonia, which means that there is still only a limited amount of data on the most effective coping mechanisms. What is clear, however, is that simply avoiding the trigger sound is generally not an effective strategy, as it can lead to even more negative impact. “The more you avoid, the more likely you are to avoid, and then you start to separate from the world,” Storch said.

Instead, strategies for dealing with misophonia often focus on reframing the trigger sound to make it less emotionally impactful, or on the importance of participating in an event, even if trigger sounds are associated with it.

For the first trigger sound reshaping strategy, the general concept is to think of similar sounds that are less emotionally charged to help reduce the emotional impact. “If you can rethink that instead of chewing, it could be someone walking in the snow with boots on, or instead of chewing a trigger person, maybe you imagine a toddler chewing, this could be one from an aspect that really detracts from the emotional significance,” Storch said.

For the second strategy, the focus is on being able to participate in meaningful activities, such as attending a family dinner, even in the presence of trigger sounds such as chewing. “We’re really working on developing the skill set to be able to deal with those situations and confront those situations with that skill set instead of backing off and avoiding everything that’s important to you but is a little frustrating,” Storch said.

There is also some additional evidence that cognitive behavioral therapy can help with misophonia , although research on its effectiveness is still very limited.