My earliest memory of struggling with misophonia is when I slept on a hotel bathroom floor on a family vacation to escape my father’s snoring. Decades later, my sound sensitivity is the cause of most, if not all, fights between my fiancé and I. There is no truly magical cure. However, in a desire to control this disorder (and to prevent the engagement from being broken), I decided to try it out to see if I could get some relief from the hypnotic effects of misophonia.
You may have never even heard of misophonia, especially if you’re blessed enough to not be affected too much by certain noises. However, this is a genuine disorder and includes being emotionally and psychologically triggered by the selected sounds. “People who suffer from misophonia respond to certain sounds with anger, rage, discomfort, and sometimes even a desire to run away,” says Deanna J. Crosby, MD, clinical director of New Method Wellness in California. says a doctor of psychology. A rehabilitation center based in
In my case, that anger and frustration bubbles to the surface when I hear my beloved fiancé making a fuss about, well, doing something to keep him alive. “Why do you think you’re so irritated when I’m literally trying to survive?” I asked him one night after I scolded him about the gulping sounds he made when he drank La Croix. he asked me. The truth is, I don’t know. Of course I want you to be alive. I wish he didn’t eat and drink so loudly, use silverware, and breathe so loudly. Because that would cause me to completely lose my cool. Enter hypnotherapy.
How hypnosis can help treat misophonia
Hypnosis works on the unconscious, the part of the brain that cannot tolerate certain sounds. “Because misophonia does not occur consciously, hypnotherapy may be able to alleviate some of the symptoms of misophonia by working on the unconscious,” Crosby says. Specifically, hypnosis is a technique that trains your brain to move, or shift your attention, between different levels of consciousness, allowing you to fine-tune how you respond to whatever the triggering sound is. You’ll be in control.
I wish he didn’t eat and drink so loudly, use silverware, and breathe so loudly. Because that would cause me to completely lose my cool.
I had never tried hypnotherapy before, so I was skeptical about how effective it would be over Zoom. When I’m participating in a virtual meeting, I already end up in a trance-like state. How is this any different? I logged on and met Shawna Cummins, a New York-based certified hypnosis practitioner and author of the following book: wish craftAnd I learned that it’s a lot like meditation. You don’t need to be in the presence of magical forces. All you need is your heart. “[Hypnosis] It’s similar to the savasana state at the end of yoga,” she said. “There’s no right or wrong way to experience it. You don’t have to pay attention to it. It’s very relaxing. You just foster a quiet, safe space.”
That safe space comes into play whenever you’re facing sensitive sounds. “It’s very difficult to feel stressed or face certain situations.” [like a trigger sound] It’s not rational, so you have to approach it from a conscious level,” Cummins told me. “So [with hypnosis] By entering your imaginative mind, you can bypass your conscious, critical mind and enter a more relaxed, dream-like state where you can begin to make changes. ” If you want to flip your kitchen table a la Teresa Giudice, it’s easier said than done. When I heard my fiancé slurping soup.
What is hypnotherapy for misophonia?
Cummins taught me four hypnotherapy techniques in a nearly two-hour session. It all felt like a type of meditation, but instead of sitting there and trying to keep your thoughts in place, hypnosis involves the imagination (which I find much easier to work with). I felt that way — I’d rather think about fancy things than try to sit (in silence) when my brain decides to run through my to-do list.
The first one put me into a relaxed state and then focused my mind on a place that brought me peace. Cummins asked me to experience this place with all my senses: the sun on my skin, the smell of the air, the texture of the ground. I pictured myself relaxing with a pina colada on the beach in Tulum next to my girlfriend’s fiancé, who had his mouth taped (just kidding). Then I was asked to imagine a peaceful sound. It can be anything. My mind immediately started playing “When Doves Cry.”
But then the session shifted gears and I had to focus on the stressor. “It might look like a color or a substance,” Cummins says. Indeed, I saw Red thinking about his fiance chewing cashews.
“It’s a natural human ability to have different experiences simply by shifting our attention.”
Cummins said the soothing sounds would bring my thoughts back to a peaceful place. “It’s a natural human ability to have different experiences just by shifting our attention,” Cummins says. After I regained consciousness, she explained to me that hypnosis is about learning how your mind works and making it work for you (Dream Scenario: Fiance (I learned how I could hear a Prince song every time I ate). “One of the basic tenets of hypnosis is that underlying every response and behavior is a positive intention,” she explained. “Misophonia is precognitive, meaning that a physiological response occurs to a sound before you even think about it. Hypnotherapy therefore provides different perspectives and allows you to learn different ways of responding. .”
Other hypnosis worked in a similar way. Although it felt promising, I was eager to see how my new mind trick would perform when faced with a triggering sound.
verdict
Dinner the night after the session was eaten with a spoon from a bowl. You hear the sound of silverware hitting plates and bowls, then you hear the clinking of silverware against your teeth (and then— I shudder — When I hear the slurping sound of a spoon, I usually go from zero to angry within seconds. I decided not to go to the cave. Not tonight, misophonia.
As my fiancé took his first bite, I returned to my peaceful place and focused on listening to the relaxing sounds I had imagined earlier. I didn’t like the sound of his eating, but actively thinking about other sounds gave me time to pause before reflexively biting him. Later, when I watched TV, my haunted ears were glued to his particularly loud breathing. I could feel his body tense up, but he consciously took deep breaths and used his imagination to calm him down. Rather miraculously, I was calm enough to kindly ask him to clear my snot (yes, I know how I sound here).
I felt quite accomplished on the first day. Unfortunately, the victory did not last long. When I sipped my coffee recently, I thought of Fantod’s, and the other day I almost cried when I heard my fiancé crunching into potato chips. But at least I see the potential of hypnotherapy. I need more training and practice so that I can permanently stop getting furious when I hear my fiance eating or breathing.
Research referenced:
Palumbo, D. (2018). Misophonia and potential underlying mechanisms: A perspective. Frontiers of Psychology. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6034066/
Expert:
Deanna J. Crosby, PhD, Clinical Director, New Method Wellness
Shawna Cummins is a certified hypnosis practitioner based in New York. wish craft
