“What do Misophonia, Logophobia, Onomatophobia and Tinnitus have in common?” by Kate Blanche

They are all related to sound sensitivity. 

Logophobia is an intense, irrational, fear of words. Onomatophobia is an irrational fear of hearing a particular word or a certain name. Both are conditions that must be suffered for 6 months before any medical diagnosis can take place.

While explaining ‘Misophonia’ and ‘Tinnitus’ in my appeal for potential volunteers to take part in IEMT for those conditions, I was asked by my house guest if I could help her with an intense, irrational fear of one specific word. She explained that the word was not a “trigger word” in that it did not cause a flooding of memories attached to trauma- like PTSD might. Neither was it a “dirty” word, however, this particular word caused revulsion, panic and disgust in her and she couldn’t “stand the sound it made”. On hearing this and noticing the perspiration on her forehead and the cadence of her voice quicken, I decided to do a quick session on the spot with Cathy (not her real name).

Cathy explained that since it was not an obscene word, it was hard to avoid, but, she succeeded in avoiding it in her own speech and stopped watching weather reports, as well as baking and gardening programmes where predictably, the word would be used regularly. In fact, she stopped Watching ‘The Great British Bake Off’ - a particular favourite of hers because of this “nauseating” word. I asked her what this word was and visibly alarmed at being asked, she stated she just could not say it. Instead, she explained that it was a term the judges used when they liked “a chocolate cake that wasn’t dry and has the right amount of water content”. At the thought of it, her face was flushed and shining with sweat and she dropped all eye contact. “If a cake is not dry, it is………” she said appealing to me to work it out for myself.

“I think I can guess,” I replied “Would you be able to say it out loud for the first and the last time to me? Just so we can compare it to how you feel later?”

Cath was showing signs of emotional stress and Anxiety, despite her laughing and expressing how ridiculous it was, she was shaking and her eyes glazed over in tears. I decided not to pursue it.

Cath was unfortunately a victim of sexual assault 2 years ago, however on asking how long was it that she had this irrational fear of the word, she stated the problem had been ongoing for four and a half years. I asked her “Why?”.

Cath explained she had watched a TikTok meme montage of “The Great British Bake Off where the word was uttered with obvious pleasure by one of the judges. Sexual connotations to this word had been blatantly suggested by the creator of the montage, who also edited the judge's voice to emphasise the word even more. She remembers being “grossed out” and amused in a “disgusted way”. However, within days she started avoiding using the word and the less she said it the more disgusting it was to her until eventually she started experiencing extreme anxiety at the thought of having to hear the word. Our conversation continued as follows:

Cath: “I hate everything about it, I hate the start of it, I hate the sounds within the word, the way they form together”.

Kate: If the word had a waveform, what would that sound look like?

Cath starts to explain…..but is interrupted

Kate: Show me.

Cath: makes the form with her hands.

Kate: Clap the syllable

Cath: does one , loud, clap.

Kate: Now imagine it in a font? What font is it in? What colour?

Cath: Its in Cursive writing, just hand written cursive not on a computer its black.

Kate: Now write it in the air

Cath writes the word in the Air.

Kate: can you sound it out for me phonetically?

Cath. MMMMM.   Oyyyyyyy.  SSSSSST

Kate: The way the sounds of the mmmmmm and the oyyyyyyy and the ssssssst fit together to make the word….what feeling does it give you?

Cath: a strong feeling of revulsion.

Cath gave the feeling of revulsion “a solid 9” .  We proceeded with the K pattern.

Within 45 seconds, I asked Cath  “when you think about the word and the sound of the word…. What do you notice?” .

Cath: “ Gone! Its gone. I feel nothing about it”

Kate: “And when you think about the memory of the Montage what do you notice.

Cath: I know I had an issue with it. I just feel indifferent. It’s crazy I ever had a problem;

Kate: What was the word?

Cath: MOIST. Oh wow! MMMMOISTTT! Im not feeling anything!

Kate: on a scale OUT OF 10?

Cath: A big fat zero.

Cath had been suffering for four and a half years but had been too embarrassed to talk to anyone about her fear of the word ‘moist’.

As she was a house Guest, I was able to follow her through to the sitting room where she explained to everyone else what had just occurred. She referred to the word ‘Moist’ 7 times with no signs of distress or self-consciousness.

The following morning, I went onto the AI chat GPT app and prompted it to create a story mentioning the word moist 25 times and gave Cath a printed copy to read aloud. She read through it. She did so with no hesitation and no reaction.  The story is as follows….

“Moist, moist, moist. The word echoed in her head like a broken record. She couldn’t escape it. It was everywhere. The air was moist, the ground was moist, and even the sky was moist. She felt like she was drowning in it.

She tried to ignore it, but it was impossible. Every breath she took was moist. Every step she took was through moist soil. She couldn’t escape it.

She tried to find a way out, but there was none. She was trapped in a world of moisture. It was like a nightmare that she couldn’t wake up from.

She tried to scream, but her voice was lost in the moist air. She tried to run, but her feet sank into the moist ground. She was trapped.

And then she woke up. It had all been a dream. But the word still echoed in her head. Moist, moist, moist”

 When asked how she was feeling after reading the AI story Cath replied;

“I still feel absolutely nothing. This is no different from reading any other story, it’s ridiculous to think that’s how I used to feel”.

Cath summed up the experience perfectly and so I will finish with a quote from her: Four and a half years of abject fear over a word, gone in less than 45 seconds of eye wiggling! Who would have thought!”.