Hi everyone,

I find myself being easily irritated by little things. The main little things are: the sound of people's voices and the sounds of chewing food. It can be anybody, really, but it's usually family members. I can be fine one minute, but the next be utterly furious at them as words come out of their mouth. Same goes with loud chewing noises. Disgusting! Infuriating!

These seem like small things. But they just cause me to feel overwhelming anger, annoyance, rage boils inside me...I either have to leave and go be by myself, or dissociate on purpose. I hate how I seem like such a mean person...I don't want to be a mean person...but I can't control how I feel.

I have informed by father and brother in the past about this issue. They are fine with it, but I can't tell them all the time: "Could you please stop talking? Your voice is infuriating me." It's just not polite.

Does anybody have any tips to conquer my stupid anger issues?

[Indie'sOK]

I'm often the same way. It's just the little things, like when other people are laughing and I'm in a bad mood. I can't do much to offer suggestions, just letting you know you're not alone

[possum220]

I saw Dr Phil the other day (we are months behind) and a young lady had a hypersensitivity to noise. He was going to send her off on desinsitization counselling so that her responses could be changed to the noises.

It was more about how she reacted to the noise than the noise itself.

[googley]

There are times that I also find noises annoying. It is like they are grating on my nerves. Especially the sounds of people chewing and crunching. I think it is part of my PTSD and hypersensitivity. When I am in class I notice that noises from the hall can drive me nuts. It sounds like the person is right next to me even though they are in the hall. I don't know what to do about it, but thought I would also let you know you are not alone in this.

[lxegirl]

Meh, just try and block it out, i mean....it'll take work but its worth trying

[thine_self_untrue]

Ack. I get that. Sometimes it seems like EVERYONE is talking entirely too loud, or a kid crying infurates me or someone seems to be chewing like a horse.

The issue isn't really being irritated, it's how you express it. Knowing this about yourself is massively helpful. Instead of flying off the handle when some poor unfortunate soul enjoying thier dinner sounds like a wild animal instead of a civilized human being, or seems to be impersonating a human megaphone, you can stop and access the situation. Is the chewing/talking really that loud? Is it really that bad? Can you move on and ignore it? If not, would it be polite and appropriate in this situation to ask them to stop/speak more softly, etc?

Know that it's okay to be irritated. Not much you can do about how you feel, unfortunately, but your reaction is more within your control

the worst sound ever to me is the sound of people dragging their feet, thankfully most of the time it's something my brain doesn't even process as there are more important stimuli to be focused on. Also the other worst sound in when multiple people are trying to talk at once and everyone is trying to talk over each other. It's not irritating so much as overwhelming and the most I can do is just cover my ears... thankfully people generally notice this and turn it down a notch. For me annoyance is pretty easy to let go of unless it's something that just drags on and on... then I just get increasingly annoyed and frustrated and I just leave in a huff since getting away from irritating things makes you instantly feel better.

[possum220]

Ohh I really hate the sound of people dragging their feet........and you know where it happens the most - is when I am in the clinic. Where people are at their sickest. And so am I..........

[RomanSunburn]

I've noticed that when I'm easily irritated, it's actually a sign that my depression is returning in full force. It got to a point where it was seriously impacting my relationships with people. Anything could set me off, silly sounds and stuff, and I'd get intensely angry over the stupidest things. I recently revamped my treatment plan and started medications and my irritability has gone WAY down.

But yes, dragging feet STILL annoy me as I walk around campus...

[bluegirl...?]

i, personally, get very* ticked off on little things& very frequently... hearing this one girl in Social Studies can ruin my whole day, someone clicking their pen in&out can be real bothersome, and people whispering when its really quiet gets on my nerves.. =/ but, if i dont at least* try to stop it, it`ll drive me insane, so you know what i do? dont talk to the girl at all& find conversation somewhere else [besides, she mostly talks nonsense]. I tell the owner of the pen to please stop, and that it bothers me. I ask the people to please stop because i actually want to learn [pssh!].

maybe you should try stopping it -politely-. if someone`s chewing with their mouth open, you coud ask them not to.

~~dont ever forget to always be polite though.. there are some out there who will actually get irritated themselves* if youre not nice & they can be really mean keep doing it on purpose. so, if the open mouth while chewing is bothering you, be nicer than `close your pothole before i do!`. people generally dont find that pleasant >.<
well, i hope i helped some(:
>>Danni

A curmudgeon is always irascible, which is why I have a backlog of things to complain about and no one to listen to me.

[englishteacher]

Noise is irritating to me too! Especially my 18 year old bossing my 10 year old around - it's the tones of their voices that disturb me. If they are really being ugly to each other, I try to keep control of myself and sort out what's making them behave badly. Or - not in control, I yell at both of them to go to their rooms and be quiet. (yeah, I usually apologize for yelling at them later) I grew up an only child, so bickering siblings makes me insane.

The TV gets me too - it seems like everyone is deaf so the TV is blaring and when hubby is watching military/history channel, the sounds of violence make me flee the room. My family is used to me hiding when the noise level gets too loud. I feel for you ohseedee.

[la doctora]

I tend to get easily irritated when my anxiety is rearing its head. Mainly it annoys me when people talk, period. If they aren't talking about something I find very interesting then I just cringe at the words coming out of their mouth. My husband comes home every day and starts talking politics almost immediately. That is just too stressful a subject when I am anxious. He can tell when I am anxious b/c I won't look at him when he speaks and I just say "yeah, yes, and mmm hmm" over and over again. I know he is just being himself but when it is really bad I will just ask him to talk about something else b/c I am stressing over the conversation. He usually takes it really well as long as I act slightly interested. I agree that it is key to be polite. If I am short with him he gets irritated back. You aren't alone.

[Mrinurmind]

I go through the same problems as well (dogs barking etc),Unfortunately I have come close to expressing my emotions through violence in the past. First comes the twitch then It feels like your losing a part of your mind and is replaced by an all consuming rage. It was at a diner and I was there with the two people I care about the most in my life. A large group of kids came in (age 19-23) and took the table in front of me and one across. They were really loud and vulgar... and this was in a family environment.I also have problems with being around people I don't know,plus the noise and being Hyper vigilant with the ptsd, well I came way to close that time.That was my worst time.
The rest of the time I spend hurting my relationships, What few there are.

[SophiaG]

I think I got irritated by the mere presence of people yesterday. I really dont know why I get annoyed by people being around me. Like I dont want to talk to them, I dont want to be asked how school is...i just want to go to my room, close the door and be by myself and do what I want =P

It's sort of terrible. =l