“Interviewers and researchers often ask, what is Misophonia?
“An official, medical association sanctioned definition is yet missing, but in the meantime, this is what I think.
“Misophonia is a thief, a monster, a silent and invisible hunter of the most vulnerable of our society – children. Misophonia picks its targets with intention, with sudden onset in many cases, before the victim has the cognitive or emotional capacity to recognize its intrusion – they suffer its effects. Misophonia is merciless, it attacks the most important human relationships we ever know, that between parent and child, between spouses, between brothers and sisters, between work colleagues. It forces its way into these close bonds and shreds them, snarls them, cuts them apart, and does not have a single regret.
“Misophonia is elusive, tricky, sophisticated and shifty. It cannot be seen with any diagnostic tool. It cannot be tracked into its hideous lair. It cannot be found in any particular tissue or bloodstream or organ. It spreads like a bad stink into every part of life and yet, cannot be grasped or photographed or measured. Misophonia can pass through generations, skipping at times, but spreading over time to the point where even non-affected family members or close friends, become infected to a certain degree with decreased sound tolerance.
“Misophonia is unreasonable, heartbreaking, vicious and driven. Despite heroic human hearts, full of resolve and fortitude, support and determination, it brings grown men to their knees, sends grown women hiding in back rooms, provokes children to defiantly scream their outrage and frustration, and drives family members to the end of their own ropes of tolerance and patience. Misophonia is unfair. It unceasingly picks at life and changes without reason. It asserts itself into occupational, school, and family settings. It will not play by the rules – there are no rules, and if there were, it would just cheat and change them all the time.
“Misophonia is everywhere, found in every culture, every people group, in every continent, every place where people live. It has been around for some time, unrecognized until the age of the internet and worldwide communication and sharing outed it from its deepest hiding spaces. Misophonia is unkind. It is unfair and unwilling to compromise. It is a bully – a seriously wicked condition that forces its chosen to feel unworthy, defective, unhappy, mentally ill, unreasonable, and sad. Too many times Misophonia forces its members to think and say, “Something is seriously wrong with me and I should be able to deal with this, and yet I cannot, so something is seriously wrong with me” (repeat). The most common words on the lips of those who have Misophonia who find out about it for the first time, as a name for their symptoms, their feelings, their reactions, their state of mind, their inability to cope with breathing, sniffing, chewing, clicking, speaking and other noises, is, “I Thought I Was Crazy,” then often, tears. As the thoughts now become, I am not crazy, this is real.
“Because Misophonia, whatever you are, wherever you are, you cannot have that. You cannot be that which makes one feel crazy, isolated, misunderstood, alone, apart or weird. We will not allow you to force these names onto these beloved and cherished human beings! And we are hunting you.
“We hunt you with as many weapons at hand as possible – sophisticated imaging machinery, genetic studies, psychological interviews and experiments, counseling and auditory applications. We hunt you and we will not stop until we drive you out of the thick jungle of tangles you hide in. Like all great scientific endeavors in the past, we will never give up. We walked on the moon and soon will be on Mars. You are nothing compared to the great acts that humankind has achieved, and we promise, we will hunt you down and tear away your camouflage until we see you, naked and tender, and so clear in our sights. And then we will simply destroy you. There is no alternative. Keeping in mind the streaming tears down young cheeks who suffer, on older cheeks who mourn, we hold this promise tightly. We are coming, Misophonia. We are strong, we are relentless, and we have created an army of hunters. You can count on it.”