Misophonia is defined as "the hatred of sound." It's a rare disorder in which certain sounds —or most sounds—cause people to fly off the handle. Misophonia causes negative reactions such as hatred, disgust, anger and anxiety. It's a really interesting disorder that isn't usually talked about because it's assumed that it's either not that important or because "it's normal to be annoyed by sounds."
But what about when these sounds ensure extreme levels of aggression, causing a person to go into panic mode?
I personally suffer from Misophonia, and it's caused a lot of anxiety for me -- only because certain sounds that upset me, leave me feeling disturbed or full of anger, resulting in a not-so-fun guilty feeling afterwards. I don't mean to get upset at people, but I can't help it. For me, sneezing, coughing and snoring are huge triggers. Here are some of the triggers for a lot of people in the world: mouth and eating, breathing/nasal, vocal, environmental (tapping, typing, ringtones from phones), body movement related and visual (sound related).
Misophonia is a real thing, and these are just some of the many symptoms that everyday people like you and I, can experience on a daily basis.
Anger
When someone is chewing their gum obnoxiously, like chomping away at the gum, I want to go over and punch them in the face. Anger is very much associated with Misophonia. It's hard to figure out why, but there's this feeling of wanting to explode when someone is sneezing excessively or coughing up a storm.
Disgust
Do you ever just glare at a person when they're eating their food really loudly or tapping their foot in class non-stop? You think to yourself, "Can you not?" You just can't help, but stare at them until you're burning a hole in their face and they eventually stop -- if they do stop, anyway.
Irritation
For me personally, my irritation sky-rockets when I am faced with intrusive noises. What about those times when you're trying to focus on homework or trying to sleep and you can hear a party going on next door? You want to shout, "Shut up!" at the top of your lungs. Some people are trying to do things besides being loud and obnoxious.
Anxiety/Panic
There have been times where I have gotten so upset by certain noises that I feel my heart palpitating in my chest at a very fast rate, and I feel like I can't breathe. It could be the anger coming into play, mixed in with all of the emotions coming into my body—along with the sensory overload. I've also found that anxiety and panic from noises can lead to tremors and sweating—just like any other panic attack.
Rage
"If you could just shut up, that would be nice!" You want to crawl out of your skin and smash everything in sight. There was one time when I had a friend sleep-over, and they were snoring so loud, that I wanted to break something. Instead, I got passive aggressive, and I pretended that I needed something in another room. I opened up my door, and slammed it really loud so they would be quiet. I did that a few times. I felt terrible, but I was so angry.
Physical Violence
Yes, this can happen. Unfortunately, it can happen to the people that you actually really care about. Even though this one person is your best friend that you love, they may create some sort of sound that sends you to misophonia-ville in a heartbeat. I think you already know where I'm going with this with the bolded title above.
Misophonia is a pain. I don't like it because it makes me feel guilty afterwards. I don't want to be mad at these innocent people who don't (always) mean to be obnoxious. These are good people, and sometimes they can't help it. (Such as snoring, coughing) There are just times where I want to punch a hole in the wall and blood boils. I don't think there is any way to treat it -- but maybe there is. Either way, I'm working on calming myself down when I am under a fit of sound triggers.
