What is Misophonia? A simple explanation.

In this short blog, I am going to offer a very simple explanation about what Misophonia is, so you can understand more about how it affects people. You may be affected by it yourself or you may know someone who has it. Put simply, Misophonia is a condition where certain everyday sounds trigger an intense emotional and physical reaction, often involving anger, rage, panic, or disgust. The reaction is automatic and not under your conscious control.

Misophonia is also known as extreme or selective sound sensitivity. Common trigger sounds include the sounds other people make - for example, chewing, coughing or throat-clearing, breathing, sniffing or even the noise they make when they swallow or how they speak. It often makes no logical sense at all. This makes it different to sounds that many people would find irritating, annoying or even distressing - for example, loud music, traffic noise or sudden startling noises. Misophonia is not necessarily about how loud the sound it, it's more about the type of sound. Typically, the sounds come from other people especially people you are close to and/or live with.

One of the most distressing features of having Misophonia is the intensity of the emotional reaction which can make you feel embarrassed, confused and ashamed. Logically you know that your extreme reaction is not proportionate to the sound; your logical mind knows that you are not in danger and the person making the sound is not doing it deliberately. Yet, here you are, feeling a huge amount of anger toward this person! This emotional intensity often leads sufferers to avoid certain people or places. This in itself creates another level of distress because it can lead to loneliness and isolation, for example, you may eat your meals alone or have to avoid sleeping in the same bed as your partner.

Sometimes Misophonia is extremely hard to explain to others, especially if you are afraid of feeling "weird" or "intolerant". The people closest to us often try hard to understand, and it can put a lot of strain on your relationships. The best way is to keep the explanation simple: "My nervous system is unable to tolerate certain sounds, and I have no control over this. I am not reacting this way because I choose to".

This is Misophonia in a nutshell. You react very strongly to sounds that might seem "normal" to others. It is your nervous system attempting to warn you about something that is risky or dangerous to you. However, your nervous system is not using logical thought processes. You already KNOW that the sounds are not dangerous! Misophonia is sometimes held to be a neurological condition, often genetically inherited. Other researchers consider it to be the result of a learned response, that is, you once reacted to a stimuli in your environment that just keeps repeating. I am going to answer this question in more detail in a separate blog.

I hope you found this article useful. Feel free to claim my free guide "why Misophonia is not your fault - and how to explain it to others". You can sign up for it by clicking on this link Work with me/contact.

Want to know more about me and how I work? Click here How I can help you

Need more questions answered? Check out my FAQ page right here Misophonia FAQ's