Why you should keep a misophonia trigger journal.

Includes a free printable misophonia trigger journal for you to download and use!

Download a Free Printable Misophonia Trigger Journal [PDF]

Misophonia can be tough to talk about. Other people don’t seem to understand what it’s like to have this misunderstood sensory disorder; how it affects us every day. People even minimize or deny what we are experiencing because misophonia is not easy to understand.

Misophonia constantly affects us in large and small ways. Our plans get diverted because we can’t complete a task due to unexpected sounds and sights that activate our misophonic reactions. Our grades at school might suffer. Our workplace is a source of extreme frustration. We avoid people, places, and situations that will likely trigger us. Our relationships and social lives can be difficult when others don’t understand what we are dealing with.

It’s a challenge to communicate to others what living with misophonia is actually like. We can even get used to the daily improvisation and changed plans that result from coping with misophonia. The work-arounds we adopt become second-nature and we forget just how much of what we do on our own is actually a result of managing life with misophonia.

Sometimes, what we really need is data.

Quantifying Misophonia

Keeping a log or journal of your misophonia triggers can be a very helpful tool in understanding your own misophonia and, more importantly, in showing others the impact misophonia has on your life.

If you need to communicate with your family, your employer, your school, or a therapist about just how much misophonia has an impact on your ability to live a “normal” life, showing them your record of your triggers brings the reality into stark clarity for them.

Accurate data can help us, and other people, see the magnitude of what living with misophonia is really like, on a daily basis.

For me, I started keeping a trigger journal a few years ago to show a former employer of mine who was having a difficult time understanding my request for misophonia workplace accommodations. I now know that misophonia qualifies as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act [ADA] and employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations for employees with misophonia.

Keeping a Misophonia Trigger Journal or Log

The concept here is simple: each time you encounter a misophonia trigger, you record it in the journal.

You might want to include some additional information, such as what the trigger was, when it occurred, how severe it was on a scale of 1-10, and what you did to cope with it [such as “left the room” or “put in earplugs” or “talked about it”].

An example of a misophonia trigger log page.

How to Start Using a Misophonia Trigger Journal

There are many ways to keep a Misophonia Trigger Journal

1. Use any small pocket notebook and a pen, typically of the non-clicking kind.

2. Use an app, like the Misophonia Podcast App* for iOS and Android, which includes a trigger journal function.

3. Make a simple phone ‘app’ using Google Forms.

4. Download, print, and fold our Free Misophonia Trigger Journal.

You can use whatever is preferable to you based on your needs, budget, and daily routines.

The key things to keep in mind are:

1. You’ll need to make a point of recording every trigger, no matter how small or large, for the period of time you are keeping track of your misophonia. A week is good. A month is usually enough.

2. The trigger journal/log must always be easily accessible to you. Recording triggers must be fast, easy, and zero stress.

3. If you are keeping a paper trigger journal [such as the free one you can download], also make sure to always have a pen or marker handy, too.

For the next week [or more], any time you get a misophonic reaction to something, record it!

For me, actually recording my triggers, how severe they were, and how I coped with them brought me some relief. I knew that I could lock that event away and have a record of it to use later. Somehow, that soothed my misophonic reaction, even a little bit.

Analyze It or Share It

All of this work using a misophonia trigger journal would be for naught if we don’t make valuable use of the data set we have created. Keep the record on hand when talking to others about your struggles with misophonia. If you need to ask for disability accommodations at school or work for your misophonia, your trigger record can be especially useful.

The recorded journal is also helpful for ourselves. When the record is complete, merely looking back on a week or more of data can put our struggles with misophonia into perspective.

Using your record of your misophonia activation episodes can help ourselves and others understand misophonia better.

Did you find this helpful? What would you do differently? Did you use the free download? Contact me at cris@soquiet.org with input.

Download a Free Printable Misophonia Trigger Journal [PDF].

*Full Disclosure: Adeel Ahmad, the creator of the Misophonia Podcast App, is a member of the soQuiet Board of Directors