What is Misophonia, and Can it Be Cured?

Essentially, Misophonia is a disorder in which common annoying sounds are so distracting, they can actually trigger a reaction of rage or severe anxiety in some people. While most people may simply cringe at the sound of someone smacking and popping their gum, others can go into a complete outrage or panic over these simple sounds, just begging for the offending noise to stop.

Misophonia is a somewhat newly dubbed disorder. In the past, people who suffer from Misophonia were misdiagnosed with anxiety, anger disorders, or even post traumatic stress disorder. The reasonsing for this is that the actual responses to hearing common sounds are so outrageous that people were believed to suffer from another mental disorder that triggered a negative reaction to annoying sounds that people and animals often make.

A person suffering from Misophonia will typically have a 'fight or flight' feeling when they hear the noise that triggers their reaction. They simply want the noise to stop, and have a panicky or angry response to the noise that they cannot control. The most common Misophonia sounds that trigger people the most are the noises of loud chewing, slurping, smacking of gum, or even chomping on hard food. Most people who have Misophonia live in a world of anxiety and frustration as they try to avoid these noises that quite literally drive them crazy. The noises can be like a pounding echo that they just go to extreme measures to try to avoid or stop entirely.

Symptoms of Misphophonia include extreme concentration on a certain noise that is otherwise ignorable (such as a ticking clock, tapping fingernails, etc), a feeling of panic or anger when that noise is heard, and overreacting to that noise by either anger to make the noise stop or fleeing in complete panic. People who suffer from Misophonia often can't focus on anything else but that noise until it stops, and the triggering noise that causes Misophonia varies from person to person. Some people react in fear and anxiety, others in lashing out in anger until the noise dissapates. For many people, it's the lack of control over the noise and their own reaction to it that makes them react in the first place.

There is no known cause for how the disorder is triggered, or how the disorder starts to begin with. There is no cure, but learning coping skills to deal with Misophonia, such as breathing techniques or focusing on something else, have proved useful. Simply knowing that the disorder exists can help a person learn to cope with it, and realize that they are not crazy for the way they feel. Misophonia can affect anyone, and often begins young in life, but can occur or become worse at any given time. Cognitive therapy can help a person cope with this truly life-affecting disorder. It goes way beyond simple annoyance for some people, and understanding Misophonia brings a person that much closer to dealing with it successfully.

Source:

today.com (http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44438402)