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anxiety disorder

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A woman plugs her ears. Another person eats noodles.

Have you ever just been minding your own business at a restaurant, trying to eat your turkey sandwich in peace, when the person next to you begins to slurp their soup with a force louder than a spaceship leaving the atmosphere? Some people would only be a tad bit irritated by the rudeness. Better—some wouldn't even notice. I, on the other hand, am outraged.

And it's not just soup. The weirdest sounds grate on me. The light tapping of a laptop keyboard? Furious. A mild golf clap, especially on television? Fuming. The ever-so-gentle crushing of a plastic water bottle? Seething. And for the longest time, I thought I was just a run-of-the-mill, curmudgeonly jerk. (Jury is still out on that.)

@doctorsood

Do you have misophonia?

It wasn't until about a decade ago that I happened upon the word "Misophonia." On the nonprofit website DifferentBrains.org, it's explained that it was coined by Pawel and Margaret Jastreboff in 2001 and references a "disorder characterized by extreme sensitivity to 'pattern-based sounds.'"

The "why" of it is a bit more interesting. "The underlying causes of Misophonia are unknown, although there are numerous areas of speculation, most of which concern aberrant associations between auditory pathways in the brain and the amygdala (which mediates the fight/flight response)."

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Many researchers associate it with anxiety, and some even suggest there's a link between this disorder and intelligence. Neel Burton, M.A., M.D., wrote a piece for Psychology Today entitled, "Hate Noise? You Might be a Genius where he suggests" that there are definitely interesting connections. In recent years, researchers at Northwestern University have found that real-world creativity (although not, interestingly, academic test scores) may be associated with a reduced ability to filter 'irrelevant' sensory information. 'Leaky' sensory gating may help our brains integrate ideas that are outside the focus of our attention and thereby promote associative and creative thinking. But if these extraneous ideas are, well, noise, it can also cripple us."

Burton also notes that misophones are in excellent company, stating, "Kant hated noise, as did Proust, Kafka, and Darwin—and even, ironically, Wagner. Kant fled his lodgings on account of a crowing rooster, and Proust went so far as to line his bedroom with cork. Plato, Aristotle, and Epicurus secluded themselves in large private parks, and had only to contend with the baby-like cries of hedgehogs and maybe the murderous screams of vixens."

On the subreddit r/Misophonia, there are entire threads discussing the various ways this disorder uniquely affects people. One person asks (and you can feel their frustration through the keyboard): "How do people even make all these noises when they eat???"

soup, slurping, eating, misophonia, noise A young girl eats soup. Photo by Pete Wright on Unsplash

Sounds of eating is their trigger, and when describing how it makes them feel, they, in part, write: "It makes me feel physically sick to hear, to the point where I have to wait for them to finish eating before I can even start. Sometimes I want to scream at them and tell them to slow down, keep their lips closed while eating, and stop making those hideous, beastlike noises but I know it would make me look unhinged. I just don't understand if there's something physically different about them that makes their eating sounds loud and sloppy."

Many on the thread are equally enraged by these kinds of sounds. But one points out something I noticed too: sometimes it's not the sound itself, but the person making it. When I was younger, if one person was crunching ice, it was fine. But when one particular person did it—it sent me!

This commenter shares, "The only person that doesn’t consistently set me off is my son. He chews with his mouth open a lot due to his teeth coming in so crazy braces aren’t even going to help. He tries really hard to be quiet and usually is, thankfully. But as soon as it starts to make me crazy, I remind myself he has no option. Anyone else, I have a very difficult time not letting it make me have to leave the room. No, I don’t eat out."

Good news? There are helpful skills that can calm those pesky triggers. Cleveland Clinic first gives pretty obvious solutions like "identify the noise that bothers you and minimize or prevent hearing it." Well YEAH.

But they also provide more tangible solutions like getting treated for "misophonia-related conditions, such as anxiety or OCD." They also note ways in which people can adapt, including:

noise cancelling headphones, headphones, Misophonia, coping, mental healthMan wearing headphones Photo by Joshua Oluwagbemiga on Unsplash

 
     
  • "Earplugs or noise-canceling headphones/earbuds."
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  • "Listening to something to keep your brain’s hearing-related processes focused on something other than listening for a trigger sound."
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  • "Noise generator sounds (especially white, pink or brown noise sounds)."
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For some, just the mere loud typing as I wrote this would have them in the fetal position. But it's good to know we're not alone and there are always helpful solutions.
 


Brené Brown's view on anxiety has people amusingly disagreeing

Imagine that you're about to head to the airport for a tropical vacation when suddenly you're so excited that you feel like you're going to die. Your heart starts feeling like it's rolling around in your chest, your hands are sweaty and your vision is going blurry all while you're trying to drive to the airport. That doesn't sound very exciting does it?

But Brené Brown, a famous therapist, is quoted saying, "anxiety and excitement feel the same, but how we interpret and label them can determine how we experience them." The quote is from her book, "Atlas of the Heart," where Brown is exploring 87 different emotions and experiences that comprise the human experience.

The quote, meant to be inspirational was shared to Upworthy's social media page and people have some distinctions between anxiety and excitement that they'd like Brown to know about. Their grievances were hilarious and valid.


"Cool so I’ll just tell my body I’m having an excitement attack instead of panic attack next time. Cuz the label will make it feel better," one commenter writes.

Is this sort of anxiety on sale somewhere? Maybe on Amazon perhaps? The level of positive thinking and self talk it would take to convince yourself that your anxiety is simply excitement seems like an Olympic level sport. If it were as simple as the short quote would have you believe then it would probably save people on unnecessary trips to the hospital.

"I’d like to experiment her kind of anxiety if it’s exciting mine lands me the hospital crying in distress. Wouldn’t say that’s exciting," someone else jokes.

"She's off on that one. Anxiety does NOT in any way feel like excitement. Excitement feels like excitement!!!!!," another proclaimed.

"Ummm excitement definitely doesn't make me feel like I'm going to pass out," one person wrote.

Bren\u00e9 Brown; anxiety and excitement; mental health; mental health awareness; anxiety disorder

woman in orange long sleeve shirt sitting on floor

Photo by Joice Kelly on Unsplash

Well, Brené the jury is definitely not out on this one. People cannot be convinced that anxiety and excitement are the same and while Brown's quote is often shared in this short form, it's important to remember that it's from an entire chapter from an entire book. The chances are very high that if quoted fully in context, it would make much more sense.

Man gives tip to stop anxiety related heart palpitations

Anxiety is weird. Not weird in a funny way but more like weird in a terrifying 'am I dying or am I just having an anxiety attack' kind of way. Our brains are powerful things and can make our bodies have physiological responses to stress, anxiety and depression. One of those annoyingly terrifying symptoms are heart palpitations which can feel like your heart is beating too fast, skipping a beat or rolling around in your chest.

When our hearts do something funky that make us acutely aware of its existence, the immediate thought is usually you're having a heart attack. Which can lead to more anxiety, thus more heart flip flops. It becomes a vicious cycle until you either get it checked out or it stops on its own because your brain decides to do you a solid and let you forget your heart was being weird five minutes ago.

It is really very interesting to know your brain has that much power over what your body does when you're just sitting there existing. But for those that experience the unwelcome excitement of anxiety related heart palpitations, there's a neat trick to get your heart back to feeling normal.


Jesse Katches posted a video to TikTok revealing a unique way in controlling heart palpitations brought on by anxiety. In the video Katches plays someone having heart palpitations and the person who supposedly called an ambulance due to his own palpitations which resulted in a paramedic teaching him the neat trick.

Katches tells the other person to clasp their hands together but leave out their thumbs and blow, before explaining how the trick works. He says there's a nerve running down the middle of your body that helps control your heartbeat, stimulating the nerve can sort of tell your heart to chill out. It's fascinating and a trick to keep in your pocket if you experience this symptom.

Watch the full video below:

@jessekatches1

Visit TikTok to discover videos!

Health

Scientists have just discovered the ‘anxiety gene’ and what turns it off

This could completely change how we treat anxiety and depression.

A young woman struggles with anxiety.

Living with an anxiety disorder can feel like a constant battle against an invisible enemy. People with anxiety disorders feel constant, excessive worry, restlessness and irrational fears, often accompanied by physical symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, tightness in the chest and difficulty breathing.

These overwhelming feelings cast a shadow over daily life and make it difficult to focus or enjoy simple pleasures. Anxiety disorders can also feel isolating, as the sufferer may struggle to communicate their feelings, making it hard to receive support and understanding.

Anxiety disorders are among the most common forms of mental illness and studies show that an estimated 31.1% of U.S. adults experience an anxiety disorder at some time in their lives. Around half of all people who suffer from anxiety disorders go into remission at some point.


The interesting thing about such a common mental health problem is that the cause of anxiety disorders is currently unknown. But they’re believed to stem from a combination of factors that are developmental, psychological, environmental and genetic in nature.

However, all of that may soon change. Researchers at the University of Bristol have identified a gene responsible for driving anxiety symptoms in mice and learned how it can be suppressed. The research was first published in Nature Communications.

To gain deeper insight into the underlying causes of anxiety, scientists restrained the mice for 6 hours to elicit a stress response and then examined their brains at a molecular level.

The researchers realized that the stress response resulted in elevated levels of 5 microRNAs (miRNAs) in the amygdala, determining which genes in a cell are expressed and which are not. The amygdala is the brain's integrative center for motivation, emotions and emotional behavior.

Most importantly, the researchers noted that the gene Pgap2 caused behavior associated with anxiety and miR483-5p worked as a molecular “brake” to prevent the feelings of anxiety.

To put it simply, researchers have determined the gene that creates anxiety symptoms and the gene that puts a stop to them. This revelation could lead to new medications that target and suppress the specific cause of anxiety in the human brain. It may also completely change the current trial-and-error approach that doctors use to treat anxiety through medications.

“miRNAs are strategically poised to control complex neuropsychiatric conditions such as anxiety. But the molecular and cellular mechanisms they use to regulate stress resilience and susceptibility were until now, largely unknown,” Dr. Valentina Mosienko, one of the study’s lead authors said, according to Neuroscience News.

“The miR483-5p/Pgap2 pathway we identified in this study, activation of which exerts anxiety-reducing effects, offers a huge potential for the development of anti-anxiety therapies for complex psychiatric conditions in humans.”

The findings are exciting to many people who wouldn't mind having their anxiety gene turned off right about now.

  

The next step for researchers is to see if further research can be validated in humans.

This important development comes at a time when anxiety and depression are on the rise across the globe. According to the World Health Organization, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a 25% rise in anxiety and depression worldwide.