Do you feel nervous and upset about having someone fidget repeatedly in front of your eyes, such as repeatedly tapping their finger on the table or repeatedly shaking their leg?

Marwa Amin (42 years old) says that her daughter (16 years old) continues to shake the pen between her fingers at a rapid pace throughout the period of reviewing her lessons, and if she leaves it, she does not stop twisting and rotating her hair strands, and Marwa expresses her feeling of extreme anger and tension when seeing these repeated movements, and the mother confirms that despite her alert from her exaggerated reaction - from her point of view - she does not understand why the same feeling of annoyance and emotion occurs every time.

Mesocansia syndrome

To clarify, a person's restlessness is just an urgent desire within him and a physical reaction to relieve his feeling of discomfort, and it may be a way to maintain focus as his stress increases, but if you are one of those who are negatively affected and aroused by the repetition of these movements, it may be evidence that you suffer from a psychological condition or phenomenon called "mesoconsy".

The name is due to the Latin language and means "hatred of movement", a condition in which a person is unable to bear to see repetitive movements in front of him in a certain way, and these visual stimuli excite his nerves and cause him stress and lack of concentration, and affect the learning process in the classroom, and many people in the work environment.

Negative responses to visual stimuli with mesoconsia were first formulated in 2013, in a paper by Dutch medical university researcher and psychiatrist Dr. Argan Schroeder when he observed the angry reactions of participants to see people moving parts of their limbs repeatedly.

Dr. Hayley Nelson, professor of psychology and founder of the Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, said that Mesoconsia syndrome represents a kind of visual sensitivity to the repetitive movements of others, and is caused by neurological disorders in the brain that lead to strong negative emotional responses, and explains that neuroscientists are still researching the causes of this phenomenon.

According to Nelson, hatred of movements is different from mesophony syndrome, which expresses selective sound sensitivity or tension when hearing sounds of seemingly minor objects, such as the sound of others breathing, the sound of chewing gum, or keyboard sounds while typing on a computer.

The phenomenon of mesoxynia is different from the "mesophonia" syndrome and is widespread among people, increasing with age (Shutterstock)

Widespread

In a 2021 study conducted by the University of British Columbia on mesoconsia disorder, Columbia University psychology professor Dr. Todd Handy and psychology doctoral student Smoet Gaswal found that the phenomenon of mesocansia is widespread among people, with one in 3 people (37.1%) suffering from it, and that it increases with age.

The study, which consisted of 3 parts and included 4100,<> participants, assessed the emotional and social effects of the phenomenon by informing participants about their reactions when seeing people fidgeting in front of them.

Defect of mirror neurons

As the lead author of the study, Sumit Gaswal said, in a press release published by Canadian television "CTV", that the reasons announced so far for this phenomenon are related to mirror neurons, a type of cell responsible for understanding the behavior of others, and adds that people with sensitivity to movement may suffer from a defect in these mirror cells that are highly active with seeing the repetitive movements of others, processing information and situations differently, leading to their feeling of discomfort.

"One of the reasons people are restless is that they feel anxious and stressed, so when people who are sensitive to visual cues see them, their mirror cells unconsciously reflect this feeling, so their empathy is a psychological burden on them," Gaswal explains, stressing that some factors - including feeling anxious, stressed or not getting enough sleep - make a person more likely to be negatively and increasingly affected by the restlessness of others in front of him.

Negative effects of the phenomenon

In an article for Conversation, Todd Handy says that the reactions of people with mesoxynia syndrome are reflected in their performance and lives, sometimes reaching verbal abuse, and not only there, but sometimes even sabotage social relationships.

Handy adds that some participants reported that they canceled or evaded some social events because of their discomfort and discomfort with seeing the repeated movements of others in front of them, which confirms the negative impact of this phenomenon on the social and emotional life of the affected person.

Handy added that after studying and investigating, he and his colleague found that in addition to the negative emotions and repulsive reactions provoked by the restlessness of others, it also hinders the ability to pay attention and focus in people who suffer from kinetic aversion, despite their good performance on basic memory assessments.

The researchers emphasize that this psychological phenomenon is a kind of social challenge that many around the world face in silence, and for this reason the researchers created a website for everything related to this phenomenon, and to be a reference on which future studies depend.

Reactions of people with mesoxynia syndrome are reflected in their functioning and life (Shutterstock)

How to manage the emotion caused by mesoconies?

Mesocansia shows the complexity of our brains and the ways they respond to normal stimuli in different, unique and sometimes unexpected ways, and there are some techniques to manage the distress caused by this syndrome, such as:

  • Blocking the vision of the restless person.
  • Practice mindfulness exercises such as deep breathing exercises and grounding.
  • Cognitive behavioral therapy to change negative thought patterns and relieve emotional distress.
  • Consult a mental health professional if the stress and distress of restlessness of others begins to affect the quality of life and enjoyment of social activities, to help train to reduce the sensitivity of the response areas of the brain responsible for interpreting such movements over time.