Is Ricky Gervais misophonic?
What is your reaction when someone is eating crisps?
“Oh my God, f**king, fat, c*nt, eating like a bloody slug” was Ricky Gervais exact, out loud reaction after hearing someone casually enjoying his crisps at the pub, where he was having lunch. Throughout all six episodes of the new Netflix series “After Life”, in which he is starring, Mr Gervais does not hesitate to embed as part of his role one of his real-life struggles.
As mentioned in two of his most recent interviews, he can’t stand people chewing, crunching, sniffling, slurping, whistling and making explicit noises whilst yawning (i.e. “aaaaaahhh, myiap yiap yap yap”).
“I always have earplugs with me; I do take earplugs in restaurants, -(my girlfriend Jane ironically says: ‘well that’s sociable’) in case someone is slurping soup. What can I do? I can’t staaaand it!!!”
Using witty comments, Ricky Gervais vividly describes his hatred towards both sounds and humans producing them. Although he mentions these annoyances as “phobia” or “neurosis”, those seem to be typical symptoms of Misophonia.
“Misophonia is a neurophysiological disorder in which sufferers face an aversive reaction to otherwise normal sounds and stimuli.”
Misophonia is a newly established condition characterised by the experience of extreme negative feelings, such as anger, rage, disgust and anxiety, evoked by subtle, usually organic (human-produced) sounds, like the ones mentioned earlier. Those reactions are not under volitional control, making the exposure to those sounds almost an unbearable experience.
Misophonia: Facts
- Most common “trigger sounds”: oral sounds (chewing, swallowing noises, lip smacking etc.), nasal sounds (breathing, sniffling, coughing, etc.) and repetitive clicking and tapping.
- Most common misophonic emotional reactions: distress, anxiety, disgust, panic, extreme irritation, anger, hate, sometimes rage with aggressive outbursts or involuntary violence.
- Most common misophonic physical reactions: contraction, tension or pressure in specific muscles (chest, arms, head) and fight-or-flight reaction.
- Most common misophonic coping strategies: leaving the situation, earphones/earplugs, non-volitional mimicking of the sound, positive internal dialogue, confrontation.
- Most common comorbid conditions: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), eating disorders, panic disorders.
- The average age of onset is 10 years old
- If the trigger sound is produced within a familiar context, i.e. family member or close friend, the misophonic reaction will be stronger.
Misophonia: Brain
Misophonia is a condition that has very recently drawn scientific attention, after Dr Kumar from the University of Newcastle, shed light on Misophonia’s neurophysiological substrate.
In summary, he found that 20 misophonic participants when exposed to “trigger sounds”, indicated: i) heightened response of the Autonomic Nervous System, ii) hyperactivity of Anterior Insula and iii) abnormal connectivity of Anterior Insula with other brain regions, specifically the amygdala, responsible for the processing and regulation of emotion.
“What does that even mean?” I hear you asking. That, first of all, means that Misophonia is not a choice. It’s a fact.
To ensure comprehension let’s break things down:
The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS): is the one that takes care of your breathing, your heartbeat, your digestion etc., and as it is revealed by its name, ANS acts largely unconsciously. Most importantly, it is the primary mechanism in control of the fight-or-flight response when in danger; or else in misophonic context when someone is eating crisps the instructions from ANS are: “oh you need to leave the room, if not punch the bastard”.
The Anterior Insula (AI): is a brain structure involved in a wide range of behaviours and subjective feelings, from disgust, guilt, anticipation of punishment to maternal love, empathy and emotional awareness. AI is also engaged during focal attention to the detection of important stimuli; or else in misophonic context when someone is eating crisps the instruction from AI are: “oh look someone is eating, you need to hear this!”.
The Amygdala: controls the way we react to certain stimuli or an event that causes an emotion that we see as potentially threatening or dangerous; or else in misophonic context when someone is eating crisps the instruction from the amygdala are: “oh listen, this eating sound seems a bit threatening!”.
Dr Jennifer Jo Brout mentions:
The take-home message here is that due to this aberrant connectivity those with misophonia misinterpret the common misophonic trigger sounds in a way that causes their bodies to respond as though they are under threat. The amygdala is the part of all this that takes all this “misinformation, and then tells the body, “let's do something about this.”
Misophonia: Experience
Imagine yourself chilling on your couch in complete silence. A guy steps into the room and with no warning come next to your ear and start screaming for 3 seconds. And then he stops. After a while, he starts screaming again for another 3 seconds. How quickly would you recover and get back to the prior state of relaxation?
Not very quickly, I am afraid. Your nervous system is now agitated and ready to fight back. That is because the sound of a scream has certain sound qualities (abrupt changes in frequency levels — see here for more) warning the brain of danger. The experience of perceived risk wouldn’t change even if I would tell you that this person won’t harm you or can’t help screaming.
Imagine now the scream, the risk-perceived stimulus, replaced by someone’s eating sounds. This is how misophonia almost feels like. But with some extra feelings of disgust; hence imagine someone screaming at you and in addition having bad breath. The feelings evoked would be anxiety, disgust and after some point rage.
Of course, there is a huge difference here.
It is not quite normal to scream out of the blue, but it’s ok to eat crisps and make crunching noises. However, the misophonic brain doesn’t seem to mind the difference. Normal or not, the trigger sound is perceived as a risk, regardless of the context, thus the inevitable rage or disgust reaction.
Unfortunately, it is not only the sound but also the human producing the sound that is targeted as the enemy. And that is what makes life really difficult either to live with misophonia or to live with someone who has misophonia.
Indeed, as a Misophonic sufferer myself, I must admit that it is almost impossible not to blame the human producing the misophonic sound. But it is also very hurtful for the other person to receive those “hate looks”. I certainly do have a rational mind that kindly reminds me that the sound I hear is completely normal, yet that doesn’t really make any difference.
With that part of Misophonia being the most puzzling and debilitating, feeling misunderstood and alone is adding extra struggle to manage oneself with Misophonia.
Misophonia: Q&A
Why these sounds?
We don’t know! We don’t know the underlying aetiology of this condition. Fortunately, research in Misophonia is growing and even though is still in its infancy it seems that some of the gaps will be eventually bridged. I personally have the privilege to be involved as a research psychologist in Misophonia research, satisfying my curiosity and using my personal experience as food for research.
How to cope?
Over the years, 12 studies investigated potential treatments for Misophonia, and although the majority lacked robust methodology, they did report some promising findings. Those included: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), counterconditioning treatment, mindfulness, relaxation techniques and medication.
For instant coping, earplugs do just well.
Why care?
Well, even though there is no consistent evidence about Misophonia prevalence, one study with 483 healthy students reported that 20% indicated clinical significant misophonia symptoms.
Meaning that Misophonia is quite high in prevalence, yet awareness is minimal. Therefore, there are people out there, maybe some of you reading this article, that suffer from Misophonia and are blamed for being capricious weirdos.
Misophonia does interfere with people’s life. It does affect your mental health, your relationships, your social life and your peace of mind. It is important to know more!
For more information about Misophonia: http://www.misophonia-uk.org/
