Misophonia Treatment in Ventura, CA

Do certain sounds make you angry, anxious, disgusted, or wanting to escape?

Are these sounds repetitive, low level, or possibly coming from a loved one?

Also, do family members or friends think you are overreacting, being overly emotional, too sensitive?

Misophonia Treatment in Ventura, California

Misophonia is a selective sound sensitivity. Many people don’t know they have misophonia, but question- why am I getting so angry or anxious when someone is making a certain sound? Luckily, misophonia is becoming more well known as a syndrome but many healthcare providers are still lightyears behind. They often send sufferers to a cognitive behavioral therapist for exposure therapy. It should be noted, exposure therapy does not work in Misophonia treatment. Overall, misophonia treatment does need a comprehensive approach. Working with a misophonia therapist in Ventura can help. We also support clients online all over California.

Common Misophonia Triggers:

Chewing

Slurping

Breathing

Tapping

Nail Clipping

Bass through walls

Snoring

Upstairs footsteps

Mouse Clicks

Ticking Clocks

Visual Triggers

Many People Struggle With Misophonia

Misophonia was thought to be a rare disorder, but as it’s becoming well more known, more people are sharing their personal struggles. Women seem to report Misophonia more than men. But, the male to female ratio is not officially known. Misophonia usually appears around the preteen/teen years but can occur later on in life. It often begins in the home in reaction to a parent or other family member, but can also begin from a traumatic event. Also, Misophonia can run in families. If you are struggling with Misophonia, you might have a family member struggling too. Lastly, while most people with Misophonia have auditory triggers, some people also have visual triggers. Repetitive visual triggers are called Misokinesia. 

Working with a Misophonia therapist in Ventura can help.

Our Approach To Misophonia Therapy

Misophonia can be a complex issue. Many people with misophonia are Highly Sensitive with sensitive nervous systems. Additionally, a lot of people (not all) have childhood trauma histories. Importantly, the therapy has to be tailored to the individual person. While there is no official Misophonia treatment, many things are proving to help people feel better. Overall, we use a multi-disciplined approach to treating misophonia.  

Older misophonia therapy used to focus on coping techniques and avoidance. Basically, this might be headphones, ear plugs, not eating with the family, avoiding triggers. While coping techniques can be important, the goal is to lessen the reaction to the trigger or to stop having a reaction. 

Somatic Therapy

While misophonia feels like big emotions, it very much shows up in the body through tension, pain, or collapse. We use Somatic Therapy and nervous system regulation techniques to build more capacity within the system so triggers don’t take you down so fast and the nervous system becomes less reactive over time.

Cognitive Techniques

Reframing certain thoughts can be very helpful in Misophonia. While misophonia might feel like a fast automatic response, there is meaning under the sound.

Memory Reconsolidation

We use experiential therapies that target memory reconsolidation (MR). MR is the science of transformational change. Memory reconsolidation is the brain’s built in process and mechanism for revising what was previously learned and now held in memory. Some of these therapies are Coherence Therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), EMDR, and more. Importantly, memory reconsolidation is not just about trauma or memories. It’s about beliefs, mental models, and implicit memory.

Counter Conditioning

Additionally, we might use counter conditioning. Importantly, this is not exposure therapy. Exposure therapy posits that the anxiety or stress levels go down (habituate) when a person is exposed to a sound, for example. It’s been found that people with misophonia do not habituate, the stress doesn’t go down. It basically is a form of torture to a person with misophonia. Counter conditioning is different. In short, we may play a trigger sound but pair it with something funny or counting backwards for example. In turn, this taxes the brain and the distress can come down.

Misophonia Science

While there has not been a lot of past Misophonia research, current research is showing to be quite exciting. Mainly, Misophonia creates heightened autonomic nervous system arousal with a resulting negative emotional reactivity. The amygdala (brain’s alarm) sets off the flight/fight/freeze reaction which then creates panic, anger, rage, or disgust in a person. Undoubtably, that person will probably flee the scene. Basically, telling a person with Misophonia that “these sounds can’t harm you” or “calm down” doesn’t work because the brain reaction happens in milliseconds.

Kumar, et al. found that the anterior insula in the brain has shown to be hyperactive when someone with Misophonia witnesses a trigger. The insula has also shown to be abnormally connected to other parts of the brain like the amygdala and hippocampus. One of the more recent studies have shown that people with Misophonia possibly have hyper activation of the mirror neuron system. Mirror neurons fire in a person’s brain when they see another person doing something. Simply put, if the person with Misophonia sees someone chewing, mirror neurons in their own brain light up as if they are actually chewing. For a person with misophonia, this can feel like their brain is being hijacked. 

Is There a Misophonia Personality Type?

While we take time to get to know our individual clients, many people with misophonia (not all) have similar traits.

• Perfectionism
• High morality
• Fast thinkers
• Highly Sensitive People
• Co- occuring ADHD
• Co-occuring OCD
• Other neurodivergence
• Need control
• Trauma history
• More…

FAQ

Misophonia Recovery Stories

Check out multiple stories from The Misophonia Freedom Project.

If you know someone who is free from misophonia, we would love to hear their story!

Misophonia Therapy in Ventura & Online Throughout California

We deeply undertsand the suffering that happens with misophonia. Reach out for Misophonia Therapy in Ventura. We see adults for therapy in-person and online all over California. Our office is close to Ojai, Oxnard, Santa Barbara, Camarillo, and Thousand Oaks.  We also serve clients in Los Angeles County. Contact us to connect with a therapist and learn about becoming a new client.