Explaining Misophonia to Others

This video needs to be shared. I have had this condition since I can remember. When people eat (even with their mouthes closed) I cry. I feel a literal PHYSICAL pain. My muscles tense up and I want to put my head through the wall. Its terrible but nobody knows what it is. My doctors didn't even think its a problem.

Explaining misophonia to others is so hard. This helps

Misophonia + teaching high school = Hell on Earth

my misophonia has evolved to visual repetitive triggers too, such as knee bobbing, feet waving, toe clicking, excessive hair touching and jaw movements. Has this happened to anyone else?

It's a cruel disorder to have I suffer so much with this. For me the triggers are people shouting or speaking really loud at each other especially at night when I'm trying to rest. (everyday life in Spain) loud music or general roudiness. It cause me anxiety...😧

I grunt or hum quietly to try to get the noise out of my head when i cant escape from the same room as the person making the noises.

Had this "problem" for the last 50 years. My Dad used to rub his hands together and that whispering/rustling noise drove me crazy for all of my teenage years, plus the slurping noise he made drinking his tea or soup. Nowadays I am just as irritated by my boss, who sniffs constantly. Each sniff is followed by a sigh, and these noises are constant, several times every hour of every day. I sit there, gritting my teeth, muttering "Oh ffs sake STOP SNIFFING" under my breath. I know he doesn't do it on purpose, and I know he isn't aware that he does it, but that does not help! I have downloaded a "white noise" app on my phone, and that helps, a bit.

I told my brother how much a trigger can affect me and he totally flipped. My family sees me as a rude controlling person because of how I react to sounds. Sometimes it gets so bad I want to hurt others and in complete confusion I end up hurting myself. The other day I got so frustrated I even asked someone to stop breathing so heavily. Obviously to others it seems like a normal thing to do- it's just breathing, right? But for me it feels like the panic continues to grow and if the sound won't stop then I will explode. After trying to confront my brother he told me that I should deal with it and I can't control the world around me. I don't enjoy this, it's not something I want! it's getting worse by the minute! He thinks that I can "cure" it. At first he didn't believe me and said just cause I self-diagnosed myself doesn't mean it's real and that I'm making things up and I should get diagnosed and treated... that's the hard part, no one knows what to do about it. Does anyone have a similar situation that could shine some light to mine? I feel so lonely, sometimes I just wanna crawl into a hole and cry. He saw some article about a guy that got rid of schizophrenia... he wants me to change myself but being yelled at for something I have no control over makes me feel so weak, sometimes I feel like such a horrible human for getting worked up at people over nothing.

I can't even listen to this video. His GULPING!!!

I tried to tell my dad that I have misophonia but now he just does it more. And yelled at me because he refuses to think that I might have a disorder.

First, thank you very much for making this video. It made me understand better my misophonia and now I feel much more confident explaining it to others. But... I really hate that I feel misophonia is something that restricties me to make a lot of things. Even going out to cinema with friends. I hope one day I will see in this disorder something really good.

Thank you for making this! I've had this problem for a long time. When I was in College, i disassociated soooo much because people would be eating bags of chips in class or the library. And I wanted to get up and scream THIS IS NOT A FUCKING CAFETERIA. And I didn't. So many times. My survival strategy became - don't tell anyone about it. So many people think it's funny because like you said, they completely don't understand, and the first reaction is -- What THIS?? and they do it again. Sometimes it feels like bugs are crawling all over me, and sometimes it feels like getting hit in the head with a hammer. I am /so/ good at tolerating it now, but every moment is still awful. I'm looking forward to reading your website more!

Tom, I am 35 and have consciously known about my misophonia for about 30 years. I have just found this video and have to say I think you are amazing. Thank you!

I feel good that I am not alone to have this ....thank you ,you make me calm cause it really helps after all this year's suffering from this...people avoid & minimise this saying that "your thinking is the problem" & sometimes it feels like that I am neglecting my own feeling or something ..suppressing it like a hot desert & having rageful shocks... Now today it is improving as I changed my habits of playing video games,eating junk food.& Replaced with healthy, nutritious food & trying to have a exercise. Also I now don't take anything personally.I am training on that cause someone said this : "You cannot change your Destination overnight but you can change your direction you want"-unknown Remember your thinking & importantly your emotions have power. Hope that you will get this going healthly..this was suggestion , don't loose hope & keep going you can do this.Peace.

it really is very hard to communicate with people when you have this disorder. The smacking and slurping reall do trigger me. I would like to thank the man that made the video .

This guy is smacking as he talks... Triggers me..

Fantastic. This video is so useful to me personally as a misophonia sufferer and I know it's going to help me explain it much more clearly to people around me.

this is so helpful because i feel like i dont have the language to describe what im feeling to people. im always worried they wont take me seriously

This was really helpful! Thanks!

What kind of doctor do you need to find to have an official medical diagnosis for misophonia? I've struggled with it since I was a child. My mom pops sunflower seeds nightly and it's so distressing I can't leave my room. Even in my room I need white noise, a netflix show, and YouTube noise to "cope". The dysphoria is so intense there are times my reflex reaction feels incredibly violent. I know it's a neurological disease, but do I seek a diagnosis from a neurologist, psychiatrist, an ENT doctor? All of the above? I have shared one of your videos with my mom, but I don't see a change. I hide trigger foods. There are foods I avoid because I can't even stand the sound when I chew. It's so debilitating I feel like it may be making my troubles with agoraphobia worse. Thanks so much for the educational videos. For the longest time I called this experience a "pet peeve". They're incredibly validating. I hope to donate at some point. Thank you so much for your research. -Jessica Peter