Why am I overly sensitive to sudden sounds and interruptions that others can ignore or filter out?

[Winston]

Yes Yick, it was a pleasant talk and you seem like an ok guy and down to earth who is educated and reasonable.

Whether you call me an intellectual or not, my point is that I am a deep person with deep thoughts. Whether you define that as "smart or intellectual" or not is up to you and depends on your standards. Generally, if someone agrees with you they tend to think you are smart and intelligent and if they don't then they don't see you as bright. That's human nature. But there's no question I have deep thoughts and am on a deep wavelength. Average people, especially in Asia, aren't like that. I'm sure you agree. Most people just wanna survive, make money, prosper and fit in and have a comfortable life. They aren't existentialists that question everything. I'm sure you know that. I'm sure you and everyone knows I'm not a bragging type. But I am what I am. I don't pretend to be good at something, such as basketball, that I am not.

Yes we didn't need to talk about conspiracies. You don't have to talk about conspiracies to be intellectual. That's a world view. I wasn't referring to conspiracies. I just meant that I'm a deep thinker in general. Regardless of the topics.

You are observant though that I am a gentle soul, like Gandhi. lol. If you are an observant person, you can learn a lot about someone from 5 or 10 minutes of conversation in person, or maybe on webcam too.

Btw, what was the fight with you and Yick about?

viewtopic.php?f=39&t=41939

So your town in the UK had tough people who talk rough and tough? Did you get into fights in school? If so, were you the victim or bully or neither?

Anyway, take care.

[yick]

I would never guess your intellectual station, you come across as pleasant and bright so obviously you aren't an idiot, you have social skills, you can hold a conversation - you have things going for you - if someone proclaimed you are one of the world's great intellectuals - it wouldn't surprise me.

I am sure you have deep thoughts and beliefs. I don't see you as Asian, obviously you have the nationality and that's your DNA but you are an American like I am British - I have a passport of Latin American country and look like a Latino (in the most stereotypical way...) but I am more British than I am anything else. I am sure you carry many American qualities because you were brought up there, the smartest man I know - by far - is an American from San Francisco - he definitely American - he couldn't be anything else but he is a true intellect.

I can see you have many good qualities Winston - even after nearly an hour on Skype. A lot of people possess very few good qualities so you are above the crowd already.

School? It was pretty crap, I wasn't a bully and I was bullied but I put three kids in hospital with my fists but I didn't like fighting so when it ended up in fisticuffs then they got it more often than not - I lost a few but I had a winning record A lot of England has places where the people are rough and tough and like to fight - they're nothing like 'Higgins' in Magnum PI

Johnny1975? He was white knighting for women who don't read the forum and he was being an arse.

[Winston]

Well I'm glad talking to me online Yick has improved your opinion of me. Maybe if you talked to Ghost and Johnny1975 you might like them too? lol. Just kidding.

I'm not surprised though. Usually men like my personality when they talk to me. Women not always of course, unless they are very open minded and understanding. So I guess my "social skills" is better with men than women. lol. Unless you mean foreign women in SE Asia of course, I can get along with them well too.

Yes my soul does not seem Asian. Asians don't talk like I do or say what I say. They are focused on pragmatic things only and kind of cold. NE Asian Orientals especially. You can say that I'm American in personality, but not typical American, maybe one of the intellectual or down to earth type of Americans who is an uncommon breed. Or maybe an American with Euro qualities. lol. It's all semantics in the end.

Btw, if you watch my podcasts and rants on my YouTube channel, you can see that I do have a lot of intelligent thoughts and points, whether you agree with them or not.

https://www.youtube.com/c/happierabroad888/videos

Btw, that guy you said is super smart in SF. He's only smart in some ways right? Not in every way. It's rare for someone to be smart in every area, like a Renaissance Man or eclectic. I mean there are geniuses who can't tie their shoelaces or figure out how to use the laundry machine or wash dishes. lol. Usually the universe is fair. If you are strong in one area, you are weak in others right? That's what I've noticed. It seems to be a tradeoff.

[yick]

Well I'm glad talking to me online Yick has improved your opinion of me. Maybe if you talked to Ghost and Johnny1975 you might like them too? lol. Just kidding.

I'm not surprised though. Usually men like my personality when they talk to me. Women not always of course, unless they are very open minded and understanding. So I guess my "social skills" is better with men than women. lol. Unless you mean foreign women in SE Asia of course, I can get along with them well too.

Yes my soul does not seem Asian. Asians don't talk like I do or say what I say. They are focused on pragmatic things only and kind of cold. NE Asian Orientals especially. You can say that I'm American in personality, but not typical American, maybe one of the intellectual or down to earth type of Americans who is an uncommon breed. Or maybe an American with Euro qualities. lol. It's all semantics in the end.

Btw, if you watch my podcasts and rants on my YouTube channel, you can see that I do have a lot of intelligent thoughts and points, whether you agree with them or not.

https://www.youtube.com/c/happierabroad888/videos

Btw, that guy you said is super smart in SF. He's only smart in some ways right? Not in every way. It's rare for someone to be smart in every area, like a Renaissance Man or eclectic. I mean there are geniuses who can't tie their shoelaces or figure out how to use the laundry machine or wash dishes. lol. Usually the universe is fair. If you are strong in one area, you are weak in others right? That's what I've noticed. It seems to be a tradeoff.

The San Francisco friend is super smart at what he knows and is interested in and makes a wonderful living out of it and is actually quite famous, he would be the first person to tell anyone that he doesn't know everything about everything - he has his faults and follibles and there are things he would fail at but being as smart as he is - he would never 'fake it til he made it' he wouldn't do that at all and would just admit that he has his strengths and weaknesses - as we all do.

[Winston]

This article says autistic people can't tolerate unexpected interruptions because their brain cannot switch between processes like neurotypical people can. Perhaps that's the reason for my problem and inability to recover from unexpected sounds and interruptions?

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323741

“People with autism do not like unexpected stimuli, and it may be because brains are not as efficient at rapidly shifting between ideas or thoughts,” notes Dr. Jeff Anderson, a professor in Radiology at the University of Utah Health in Salt Lake City.

Thanks to the fMRI scans, the researchers were able to confirm that in the brains of people with autism, connections persist for more extended periods than they do in the brains of neurotypical individuals. In other words, in autism, the brain finds it harder to switch between processes.

In those with autism, brain connections remained synchronized for up 20 seconds, while they disappeared faster in individuals without this condition. Moreover, in those with autism, symptom severity appeared to increase with connectivity duration.

These findings, which were consistent with data from the ABIDE study, may explain why people with autism can experience distress when exposed to numerous stimuli at once, the research team believes.

“Individuals with autism who have greater social dysfunction have an increase in synched activity in their scans,” notes postdoctoral researcher Jace King, first author of the study paper.

https://www.autismspeaks.org/science-ne ... y-synapses

Brain Study Finds Evidence that Autism Involves Too Many Synapses

Researchers propose that someday it may be possible treat autism with drugs that restore normal pruning of brain-cell connections

A newly published brain-tissue study suggests that children affected by autism have a surplus of synapses, or connections between brain cells. The excess is due to a slowdown in the normal pruning process that occurs during brain development, the researchers say.

[Winston]

From a PDF book I downloaded about Aspergers.

The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome by Tony Attwood

Page 272

One or several sensory systems can be affected such that everyday sensations are perceived as unbearably intense or apparently not perceived at all. Parents are often bewildered as to why these sensations are intolerable or not noticed, while the person with Asperger’s syndrome is equally bewildered as to why other people do not have the same level of sensitivity.

Parents often report that the child may genuinely notice sounds that are too faint for others to hear, is overly startled by sudden noises, or perceives sounds of a particular pitch (such as the sound of a hand-dryer or vacuum cleaner) as unbearable. The child has to cover his or her ears to block out the sound or is desperate to get away from the specific noise.

Page 275-276

SOUND SENSITIVITY

Between 70 and 85 per cent of children with Asperger’s syndrome have an extreme sensitivity to specific sounds (Bromley et al. 2004; Smith Myles et al. 2000). Clinical observation and personal accounts of people with Asperger’s syndrome suggest that there are three types of noise that are perceived as extremely unpleasant. The first category is sudden, unexpected noises, that one adult with Asperger’s syndrome described as ‘sharp’, such as a dog barking, telephone ringing, someone coughing, a school fire alarm, the clicking of a pen top, or crackling sounds. The second category is high-pitched, continuous sounds, particularly the sound of small electric motors used in domestic electrical equipment such as food processors or vacuum cleaners or the high-pitched sound of a toilet flushing. The third category is confusing, complex or multiple sounds such as occur in shopping centres or noisy social gatherings.

As a parent or teacher, it may be difficult to empathize with the person, as these sounds are not perceived by typical people as unduly unpleasant. However, a suitable analogy for the experience is the discomfort many people have to specific sounds, such as the noise of fingernails scraping down a school blackboard. The mere thought of this sound can make some people shiver with revulsion.

The following quotations by people with Asperger’s syndrome illustrate the intensity of the sensory experience and associated pain or discomfort. The first is by Temple Grandin:

"Loud, sudden noises still startle me. My reaction to them is more intense than other people’s. I still hate balloons, because I never know when one will pop and make me jump. Sustained high-pitched motor noises, such as hair dryers and bathroom vent fans, still bother me, lower frequency motor noises do not."
(Grandin 1988, p.3)

Darren White described how:

"I was also frightened of the vacuum cleaner, the food mixer and the liquidiser because they sounded about five times as loud as they actually were. The bus engine started with a clap of thunder, the engine sounding almost four times as loud as normal and I had my hands in my ears for most of the journey."
(White and White 1987, pp.224–5)

Therese Jolliffe described her auditory sensitivity:

"The following are just some of the noises that still upset me enough to cover up my ears to avoid them; shouting, noisy crowded places, polystyrene being touched, balloons and aeroplanes, noisy vehicles on building sites, hammering and
banging, electric tools being used, the sound of the sea, the sound of felt-tip or marker pens being used to colour in and fireworks. Despite this I can read music and play it and there are certain types of music I love. In fact when I am feeling angry and despairing of everything, music is the only way of making me feel calmer inside." (Jolliffe et al. 1992, p.15)

Liane Holliday Willey has identified specific sounds that are extremely distressing for her:

"High frequency and brassy, tin sounds clawed my nerves. Whistles, party noise makers, flutes and trumpets and any close relative of those sounds disarmed my calm and made my world very uninviting." (Willey 1999, p.22)

Will Hadcroft explains how the anticipation of an unpleasant auditory experience can make the person extremely anxious:

"I was perpetually nervous, frightened of everything. I hated trains going over railway bridgeswhilst Iwas underneath, I was frightened of balloons bursting, the suddenness of party poppers and the crackmade by Christmas crackers. I was very
cautious of anything that might make an unexpected loud noise. It goes without saying that I was terrified of thunder; even later, when I knew that it was lightning which was the dangerous part, I always feared the thunder more. Guy Fawkes Night also made me tense, although I loved watching the fireworks." (Hadcroft 2005, p.22)

[Winston]

Could this be what I have? Someone on YouTube said what I have is called "Misophonia".

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-is-misophonia

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.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/mis ... 7042111534

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articl ... management

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-44084-8

https://www.healthline.com/health/misop ... for-coping

[Winston]

Some videos about misophonia. How is it that no one has heard of this before?

[Winston]

Some more.

[Winston]

I may also have OCPD. I didn't know there was a difference between OCD and OCPD. OCPD is Obsessive Personality Disorder.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsessive ... y_disorder

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog ... y-disorder

https://www.verywellmind.com/ocd-vs-obs ... er-2510584



Differences between OCD and OCPD.





Do any of you have this too?

[Winston]

Wow this cute blonde counselor on YouTube named Katie Morton is a lot more attractive than Dr. Todd Grande. lol. Don't you agree @gsjackson? lol

If my therapist was as good looking as her, I'd always be in therapy. lol

[Winston]

What if I can't tolerate any sudden unexpected sounds or movements? Not just chewing or clicking? What is that called?

Also, what kind of disorder is it if I cannot tolerate interruptions? Not just of sound but of movement too, like things flying in front of me or moving by too. My brain can't filter them out. They cut the chord in my mind especially if I'm in the middle of a thought, and I can't recover from it without exerting effort to erase the sound or interruption from my brain. What is that called? I can't find it on Google.

The worst sound is the phone ringing. How does anyone tolerate that? I wanna strangle the man who invented that sound. Do any of you have trouble tolerating that sound too?

[Winston]

Wow there's an entire website and foundation now for Misophonia sufferers.

https://www.misophoniainternational.com ... isophonia/

https://www.misophoniainternational.com ... treatment/

Treatment App for Misophonia.

https://misophoniatreatment.com/trigger-tamer-app/

The smartphone app makes it easy to do your homework for the Neural Repatterning Technique (NRT) treatment. This is a form of counterconditioning, where you hear a very VERY weak trigger while doing something positive. This is a core component of Relaxation and Couterconditioning therapy.

This app lets you adjust the trigger to create a minimal reaction. It will let you choose your favorite songs for the treatment. It will let you choose which trigger you will work on each day. This app is available for both Apple and Android phones.

[Winston]

That hot blonde therapist above explains what OCPD is. Do any of you have this too? Or some of it?

[Winston]

Wow look how hot therapist Katie Morton looks here. So angelic. I think I'm in love! lol