My blog, 'Understanding Misophonia', edited and shaped to address stigma in the Winter Edition of 'MAZE magazine' 2022.
[CONTENT WARNING: Detailed description of a sensitive sensory experiences; anxiety; low mood; cartoon images of brains]
MISOPHONIA? What does that word mean? Where has it come from? I’m sure, even if this is not your first time encountering the word, one of those questions just crossed your mind.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Taking the literal definition of the word, ‘Misophonia’ means: “a hatred, allergy or phobia of sound.” Imagine walking into a room and having the potential to experience an allergic reaction to any single sound that you might hear. Or even worse, not even knowing which sounds will cause such a reaction. I imagine you’re thinking that wouldn’t be a very pleasant experience.
The diagnosis of ‘Misophonia’ isn’t that far off the literal translation from the Greek terms: ‘misos’ (hate) and ‘foni’ (voice). Although a relatively new disorder to be researched, professionals have seemed to reach an agreement on the broad definition of this neurological condition.
‘A disorder where people have abnormally strong and negative reactions to ordinary sounds.’ [Medical News Today]
‘Known as selective-sound sensitivity syndrome, it’s a genuine abnormality of the brain with both psychological and physiological symptoms…this hypersensitivity to sound causes a fight-or-flight response in people…can interfere with their daily lives.’ [Healthline: Ryan-Evans: 2017]
‘Hypersensitivity’, ‘abnormal reactions’ and ‘fight-or-flight’ are recurring themes within professionals diagnosis and observation of symptoms. To provide an explicit understanding of the consequences of these symptoms, I’ve created an analogy to present how disruptive this can be:
Imagine you’re walking through a forest late in the afternoon. There is a slight chill in the air and the sun is just about to set. You’re a little concerned about walking in the dark – your mind keeps playing tricks on you, making you see flashes of things that aren’t really there, or hearing soft rustles that are only really the wind. As a result, you’re on edge. Your senses are involuntarily heightened in anticipation for what you might come across. Then everything calms down. You keep walking and slowly your brain starts to relax, convinced that there is nothing to be worried about. You can see the house you’re staying at through an opening in the trees. Slowly, your heightened senses, your body tensed in anxiety over the looming darkness of the wood, begins to reduce. You feel safer.
But then, just as you continue walking towards the welcoming house, a bear wanders onto your path. You freeze, images and thoughts about every possible scenario from there on rushing into your brain, flooding any rational, logical part of your sensesas the large creature lumbers into view. Your heart begins to race, your eyes grow wide and you can feel the sudden urge to pelt forward and run as fast as you can.
All you have to do is escape. Escape and everything will be fine. It doesn’t matter how, or why. Your brain is simply telling you to get yourself and your panicked state out of that terrifying situation. Adrenaline floods your body, your fingers tingle, your legs suddenly feel as if they can run a marathon and, you cannot stop yourself as you hurtle away. You don’t stop running until the bear is no longer in sight. And even then, your heart takes longer to return to a slow, rhythmic beat. Your mind takes even longer than that to reassure you the bear has not followed behind.
This is a prime example of a fight-or-flight reaction. Granted, it’s an uncommon situation within the UK, but it explicitly details the processes of the instinctive experience. I’m not saying every person who has misophonia sees a bear whenever they hear a sound. Nor am I saying they hurtle out of the room every time they experience a reaction (although, from experience, that can happen). But this adrenaline rush, the idea of needing to escape and the frantic psychological and physiological reactions drawn from this example can be and are experienced. The racing heart, the heightened senses, the reduce of all logic and rationale and the frantic need to escape the situation; all these are possible reactions from someone suffering with misophonia.
To give an idea of how broad these reactions can be, however, Psychology Today[i] puts some of the findings quite nicely, referring to reactions as causing: “sympathetic nervous system arousal and aversive emotions, which then become associated in memory and consequently increase upon exposure.” They refer to reactions towards some visual triggers, such as repetitive rocking and the experience of irritation and disgust, in addition to the example I gave, of intense anxiety and anger.
WHERE HAS IT COME FROM? (Or more accurately: what causes a reaction?)
As a relatively recently researched disorder (as of 2001), there is not an extensive amount of research or scientific information I can draw from to give you a balanced, reasonable view on the causes and neurological impacts of misophonia. But I’ve tried to pool together as clear an explanation as possible.
The Hearing Journal[ii] explains the neurological processes quite well. Research demonstrated that exposure to ‘trigger sounds’ increased neural activity in the ‘anterior insular cortex’. They consider this currently to be the strongest piece of evidence towards what might cause such intense reaction in misophonia studies. This suggests is that a trigger sound is heard, and it increases activity within areas such as these. This causes the various reactions you may see a misophonia sufferer display.
It’s not a perfect explanation and it doesn’t give an explanation as to WHY some people are more sensitive to selective sounds than others. But it hopefully gives a bit of an idea what happens within the brain when a trigger sound is heard, and show that ‘Selective Sensitive Sound Syndrome’, ‘4S’ or ‘Misophonia’ is a neurological condition that cannot easily be regulated or ‘switched off’.
DAMAGING STIGMA?
As with a lot of conditions and ‘exciting new discoveries’ in the 21st Century, a lot of miscommunication and stigma has arisen from social media and ‘pop culture’ articles such as Buzzfeed. With these misinformed articles making the condition - which they dilute down simply to a hatred of eating sounds - ‘trendy’ and many of the reactions by sufferers appearing anti-social, it makes managing symptoms immensely more difficult.
Tom, from the blog ‘Allergic to Sound’ explains how many medical professionals are still in the dark about Misophonia and less than 200,000 ‘known cases’ have approached diagnosis. I myself, have yet to meet a GP or therapist who knows the official term for “this sensitivity to sound thing” (A way one GP I met described it). Only one clinical psychologist I met knew the term and she admitted her understanding was fairly limited. Lack of professional understanding simply increases stigma around the condition among the general public.
As processing of trigger sounds and the initial symptoms of distress and fear are usually internalised by the individual, it is often difficult for observers to understand how damaging Misophonia can actually be. Much of the stigma and misunderstanding derives from its lack of awareness within the public eye and it is possible many will consider an explanation of ‘Misophonia’ to simply be an excuse for poor or disruptive behaviour. Because of course: how could someone possibly be ‘allergic to sound’? To many who have not experienced or encountered the neurological condition before, I’ve noticed it seems difficult to believe.
Many Misophonia sufferers begin displaying symptoms around the age of 13; prime age for beginning a new school and making a good impression. Curious at how disruptive symptoms might be within a school environment, I searched up ‘Forms of Disruptive Behaviour in Classrooms’, to which I received several points which risk placing a young sufferer of Misophonia under the bracket of disruptive: “Disconnecting from assigned work…aggression towards others…interrupting a lesson.... not listening…” All of these have the potential to be caused by unwanted trigger sounds and exasperation from the student at not being believed or understood, which holds heavy implications for the student and how they are perceived within the classroom environment.
In order to reduce stigma, therefore, research into Misophonia and clear, understandable results must be presented to the general population. With each year, scientific research into this condition increases which only confirms why it should be accepted and acknowledged appropriately, as a legitimate neurological condition.
See the MAZE article in 'About' section:
[i] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/noises/201908/misophonia-misokinesia-and-the-brain [ii]https://journals.lww.com/thehearingjournal/Fulltext/2020/03000/Misophonia__A_Neurologic,_Psychologic,_and.5.aspx
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