I’m trying to start research somewhere, but I cannot find any help online. My husband accuses me of making “strange” body movements, especially with my arms that makes him nauseous sometimes. It makes him extremely upset. I can scratch my head and he’d ask, “what was that?” We have several issues due to this problem with his perception. He’s lost jobs before due to this and co-workers “moving to close to his face,” and things like that. I’m trying to do some research and it seems no one is familiar with this behaviour. Please, point me in a direction. Not counselling, he’s not willing. Thanks, sooo much! Natasha
Thank you for your question, Natasha. What you are describing is called Misokinesia. Miscokinesia is a psychological experience where the person has a strong negative response to the sight of another person’s small or repetitive movements. This is similar to Misophonia which is when people experience intense anger or disgust when they hear the sounds other humans make such as chewing. Interestingly in people with misophonia research has shown that in neuroimaging data they have altered brain activity in the auditory cortex and salience network. Misokinesia is actually a reasonably common occurrence with one third of participants reporting some sensitivity to others movements. However, for your husband it appears this phenomenon is severe enough that it is impacting his occupational and relational functioning.
Learning distraction techniques and distress tolerance skills may assist your husband to manage his symptoms so they have less of an impact on his functioning. As he is unwilling at this time to see a psychologist reading the research linked above may be a first step. If he realises it is a common occurrence which has a name he may feel more able to seek assistance to manage his experiences.
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