Author Description

My Life With Misophonia## Book Description"Mom, tell Mark to stop breathing." "Mark, stop breathing." Mark is my younger brother. We were just little kids. This is not even my memory. This is my mother's memory. Many decades later, when I told my mother I had misophonia, she recalled this memory. "Now it all makes sense," she said. "I thought you were just being a hateful snip."It was the 1970s. Misophonia had yet to be discovered. No one had a clue about what was going on inside my head. Misophonia is a selective sound sensory disorder. Certain sounds cause an extreme emotional response. I become fixated on them instantly. Rage, anger, hate, disgust? these feelings build. Panic sets in. If it doesn't stop, I become fearful of how I will behave.Growing up, I lived like this. I am still living like this today. For many years, I thought I was alone and weird. Then, at one particular moment, my life changed. I discovered I am not a hateful person. There is a reason for my rage. And I am not alone.Finally, I could begin my journey of understanding myself. But, as I began to speak up about my misophonia, I felt more ashamed than ever before. When I tried to explain my condition, I felt no one believed me. Was I better off keeping it a secret and living a life of silent suffering? "You should write a book about that," my partner said. I giggled. Ten years later, I finally wrote that book.Within these pages, I tell you about my life with misophonia. I share things I have never talked about before to create a deeper understanding. I also explain how I developed coping mechanisms to manage my misophonia and minimize its control over my life.This book is one of the most powerful pieces of work I have ever created. Because there is such a vast misunderstanding of misophonia, many people are suffering in silence. I hope to give them a voice. Misophonia is real.