Marilyn Thipthorpe
I need to get out from this place. The walls seem to be cramping in on me. The sounds of their open mouth- chewing, chewing, chewing and the spitting. Oh my god. I’m going insane. I feel the green bile rising up from inside, my blood’s pounding in my ears. I drop the napkin to the floor and rush out of the room and out into the street just as my guys spill all over the streets. I suffer from misophobia. Yes it’s real and yes certain sounds can make me sick to the stomach.
Misophonia is the hatred of certain sounds, be it the grinding of teeth, chewing with an open mouth or heels hitting the floor. People suffering from this condition become extremely irritated and angry as the act continues and can have a radical bre3akdown. A more introverted person would just become disgusted, have sweaty palms or rush home to where they know they will be safe and away from the big, bad world.
Imagine my surprise when I got home and switched on the computer to find a brilliant video or rather a trailer of a small budget film on the many pains of a person who suffers from misophonia. The trailer begins with the words “Imagine normal, everyday sounds consuming, dictating and even destroying you life”; yes I can. Can you?
The producer of the documentary is Jeffrey Gould, a chronic sufferer of misophonia. The documentary is titled Quiet Please and shadows the misophonia sufferers and how their day to day activities are hampered and in chronic cases how they become isolated from society due to these problems. This short piece may not be your regular hyped up documentary but it sure goes a long way in creating awareness amongst people who mistake the symptoms as vile personality quirks.
Lets hope is causes big waves in generating enough attention to bring this syndrome to the big light and make more people aware of the condition so that they can receive appropriate concealing rather than considering themselves or other freaks!