My mother has misophonia, a condition where certain sounds can trigger an intense, visceral reaction. For most, it’s an aversion to chewing or tapping. For my mother, it was a trigger for a rage so profound it made her self-destructive. My first memory is not of a lullaby or a bedtime story, but of a dirty, sour-smelling dish towel being stuffed into my six-year-old mouth. In her defense, as she later explained, I was crying my eyes out after a simple fall on the pavement, and the sound was unbearable.
