Little sounds drive some people crazy — the sound of someone chewing food or gum, the sound of a person’s breathing, the sound a dog makes when licking its paws, the sound of a pen clicking, or even the popping noise of someone enunciating the letter p.
Have you ever heard of misophonia? I hadn’t, until a few months ago when a colleague of mine, Teresa Kohlenberg, M.D., a brilliant child psychiatrist in my group, told me about it.
At first it sounded like a sham. I couldn’t believe that it was a real condition. Then I reminded myself, that’s what people used to say about ADHD. So what is this condition with an odd name that most people have never heard of? It is the dislike or hatred of little sounds. It’s little sounds that drive some people crazy — the sound of someone chewing food or gum, the sound of a person’s breathing, the sound a dog makes when licking its paws, the
, or even the popping noise a person makes when enunciating the letter “p,” as in “Please pass the peas.”A person with misophonia may fly into a rage and assault the chewer of the gum, popper of the p’s, or clicker of the pen. Short of attacking, the person with misophonia might sit, fists clenched, and stare daggers at the maker of the tiny noise.
Does it make any sense? Not at all. But a seizure makes no “sense” either; it is an electrical explosion in the brain. The misophonia sufferer’s response is also like an explosion in the brain — unwanted and uncontrollable.People who have ADHD are often hyper-reactive in one sensory domain or another: smell, touch, sound, sight, even taste. Some of us wear only cotton, for example, and find all other fabrics too scratchy. Or the taste of a carrot makes us gag.
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