Misokinesia: Misokinesia refers to a condition that makes people dislike fidgeting.

Assuming you want a piece of the action – be it in terms of real money or entertainment value – the following should help get things underway quickly and professionally: Getty ImagesHair-twiddling can be distressing to watch when living with misokinesia, one patient shared: “Whenever I see anyone tapping their fingers on a desk, my first reaction is to cut their fingers off with a knife”, while another expressed: “Whenever someone makes small repetitive movements like my husband bending his toes repeatedly I get physically sick – like seeing an individual doling out an orderly lineup on paper a la Tom Cruise in Terminator II! Are You Holding Back from Vomiting?” Does that describe you? If it does, perhaps it could be misokinesia – an incurable dislike of fidgeting. Scientists are currently exploring this condition with no known source or solution in sight. Getty ImagesAccording to research published in PLoS One journal, experts conducted in-depth interviews with 21 people belonging to a misokinesia support group. Common triggers included leg, hand or foot movements – such as jiggling thighs, twitchy fingers or shuffling shoes. Pen clicking and hair twiddling were also frequent triggers of misophonia, an intense dislike for other people’s noises such as heavy breathing or loud eating that often overlapped with each other. People typically reported some overlap with misophonia – an extreme intolerance for other’s noises such as heavy breathing or loud eating – as another condition known as MFA (Misophonia Affective Phonia Affects People Affected), an increasingly recognized disorder which involves people’s dislike of each others noises including loud breathing or eating out loudness from them or loud eaters at restaurants – often overlapped. Misokinesia affects an unknown number of individuals; one recent Canadian study estimated one out of every three of us might be adversely affected by another fidgeter’s fidgeting, leading to intense feelings of anger, torture and disgust. Dr Jane Gregory of Oxford University in the UK has extensive expertise treating both misokinesia and misophonia, she told BBC News: Often both conditions occur simultaneously for someone. “Despite lack of data, Dr Gregory believes fidgeting disorders to be quite prevalent and therefore surprising common. People have likely experienced them for quite some time but did not have an appropriate name for it until Dr Gregory called attention to it.” She reports that individuals’ severity aversions towards fidgeting vary; she states this during my conversation. “Some may get annoyed by fidgeting or repetitive movements but this shouldn’t have an enormous effect on day-to-day life,” notes Ms. Saxton. Others might experience strong emotional reactions – anger, panic or distress – which they can’t contain and have difficulty filtering them out of their system. Through Dr Gregory’s work, she frequently encounters people exhibiting more severe misokinesia symptoms – both adults who have lived with this condition for an extended period and teenagers experiencing misokinesia for the first time. Andrea, from the UK and aged 62, started experiencing misophonia and misokinesia at thirteen, although neither condition were recognized at that point in her life. She eventually took medication that helped manage symptoms but continued having difficulty with nail picking from others around her. ‘It just explodes inside you!’: Andrea says misophonia/misokinesia wasn’t recognised back then either. Her first memory of living with this condition was being upset about a girl picking her nails at school. “Misokinesia often centers on people’s hands – what they are doing with and touching with their hands,” according to Andrea. She adds that one trigger for her is when people partially cover their mouth with their hand while speaking, which she finds hard to watch but feels sore whenever someone covers theirs like this herself. Her anger, she notes, can come instantly. “There’s no thinking involved; nothing makes any logical sense; the experience just explodes within, which makes it all the more distressful. Andrea has tried many strategies to manage her condition, yet nothing seems to work. Now she prefers living alone and working from home as an attempt at self-protection from external stimuli that might upset her. Andrea does have many supportive friends that understand when she needs to modify how she interacts with them from time to time.” “It may be simpler just to withdraw, to try and survive it all alone; asking others not to act can only go so far. She understands that most actions taken unknowingly and out of habit. Andrea finds sharing her experiences through an online support group on Facebook to be particularly beneficial. “I get so angry!”SubmittedJill says her misokinesia causes an aggressive “fight or flight” responseJill is 53 and lives in Kent; another member of this group. Her misokinesia makes her heart race quickly: anything can trigger it: leg bouncing to how someone holds their fork.” Julie from Hull is 54 and experiencing misokinesia; as its primary symptom it causes her great angst. “My heart starts beating too fast – like fighting or fleeing” Ball of anxietyJulie describes the main symptom she experiences due to misokinesia as being anger. “Recently while riding my bus I noticed a lady walking past with both arms swinging. Her presence left me both anxious and amused – neither angered nor pleased by what was transpiring in front of my eyes. “Simple things such as when someone makes me tea and they flick the teabag up and down like it’s being strung by an elastic cord – making a cup of tea can trigger my misokinesia anxiety for hours!” Or when someone sits there wiggling their legs in front of my eyes; my gaze keeps returning back there.” “She told the BBC the unpleasant feeling afterwards can eat away at her for hours; “it just leaves me with this nagging sense that there’s a ball inside of my stomach that wants to pop”. She added, “it makes me angry but doesn’t necessarily cause physical reactions in me”. “Julie tells me she does not find anger an appropriate response; rather, her internalizing makes her anxious.” While Julie does not hesitate to speak up when something distresses her, instead opting to walk away instead and use misokinesia as an excuse: this makes her unhappy as it makes her internalise it all the time.” Dr Gregory believes hypervigilent inner meerkat is an extremely debilitating condition and prevents people from being able to focus or perform normal daily activities as “part of their brain is constantly processing movements of this nature”, she states. “Violent scenes may arise within their minds that require immediate physical intervention to stop… even though there’s nothing causing antagonism between themselves and someone they usually interact with in real life.” Dr Gregory believes heightened basic survival instinct may be at work here – likening it to seeing “someone scurry off into the distance”, or tuning into footsteps behind you.” Getty ImagesShe describes the feeling as seeing “scurrying off into the distance”, or hearing footsteps coming behind you.” “For some, anxiety does not go away; your mind keeps track of everything going on around them,” according to Eberlein, and when something triggers, frustration and anger build quickly. Some find strangers’ habits more annoying, while for others it could be loved ones’ behaviors that bother them more. One strategy used by people trying to manage this condition is by looking away or distracing themselves; Dr Gregory notes. Others may attempt to avoid people as much as possible altogether. If there is only a single visual trigger – such as hair twirling – an expert suggests reframing therapy can often help the individual view it in a more positive light. You might look at it deliberately and create an explanation as to why someone may be engaging in that movement, for instance. Dr Gregory notes that taking deep breaths and exercising regularly may help ease anger and anxiety, according to studies she’s conducted. While people might feel ashamed for experiencing strong emotional reactions, suppressing such strong reactions only increases them further – intensifying and worsening them even further than before!