Understanding Misokinesia

Do you have an aversion to repetitive movements?

Have you ever felt annoyed, stressed, or even angry when looking at someone’s repetitive movements? If yes, you might be among the 33% of the population that has misokinesia.

The term “misokinesia” is derived from two Greek words, which mean “hatred of movement”. While it is estimated that at least 1 in 3 people experience some kind of discomfort when witnessing repetitive movements, it’s only recently that extensive research was conducted (source).

According to a recent, large-scale study on misokinesia, it appears to be present in people regardless of the existence of another mental health condition. Furthermore, it appears to be more frequent and intense in people who also exhibit symptoms of misophonia.

A while ago, I wrote a poem to express my struggle with misophonia, which is a condition in which certain sounds (e.g. chewing, lip smacking, etc.) or visual stimuli accompanying or associated with the sounds can trigger physiological and emotional responses.

A person can experience misokinesia without having misophonia, but it seems that those with misophonia also have misokinesia, especially for the movements that are associated with the sounds they find aversive.

Since there is not enough research data on misophonia yet, scientists can only speculate about its causes based on their findings so far. Some theorize that a special set of neurons called “mirror neurons” which are responsible for empathy play a role.

When we tune in to someone’s movements that indicate stress or irritation, our mirror neurons (therefore, our ability to empathize) also tune in to that and make us experience what the other person is feeling.

Therefore, if someone is bouncing their leg because they’re stressed, our mirror neurons can make us believe that we are stressed too. When that happens, we might want to do something to make the sensation stop, which is why we would get annoyed by the leg bouncing.

Based on what research indicates so far, people who are more attentive to visual stimuli around them (e.g. because they are hyper-vigilant due to their own predisposition to anxiety, or due to trauma-related reasons) are more likely to be affected by misokinesia. The effect is increased if those people are more empathetic.

It is important to understand that just like misophonia, misokinesia isn’t a quirk or something a person chooses to have. Those conditions can make it really difficult for someone to function. As the relevant research highlights, some people even limit their social interactions because they can’t cope with the stress misokinesia brings.

If you or someone you know has symptoms of misokinesia (and/or misophonia) which are debilitating, psychotherapy and exposure therapy are proven to work rather well to make the conditions more manageable.

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