A man hasn’t spoken to his family in four years because he was enraged at the sound of their chewing.
Derrol Murphy, 41, suffers from misophonia, a mental disorder which causes certain noises to trigger heightened emotional responses and cut off all communication with his family due to their throat clearing, has walked out on dates with noisy eaters and come close to attacking co-workers who click pens.
Derrol, from San Diego, US, said: “I thought I was crazy for many years. Little noises would make me just fly into a rage.
“People don’t understand it and I can’t explain it. It’s affected relationships, especially people I’ve been dating and family members because you take it out on the people closest to you because you think they should understand. I’m not an aggressive person, noises just anger me. I’ve had to walk out on dates if they are chewing really loudly, my face gives it away – I pull a look of disgust I can’t hide.
“Chewing is a big one and specific voices. I hear everything all the time.”
According to WebMD, “Misophonia is a disorder in which certain sounds trigger emotional or physiological responses that some might perceive as unreasonable given the circumstance. Those who have misophonia might describe it as when a sound “drives you crazy.” Their reactions can range from anger and annoyance to panic and the need to flee. The disorder is sometimes called selective sound sensitivity syndrome.”
Just like Derrol, individuals with misophonia often report they are triggered by oral sounds.”For example, the noise someone makes when they eat, breathe, or even chew. Other adverse sounds include. keyboard or finger tapping or the sound of windshield wipers.”
