Melissa Gilbert Diagnosed With Neurological Disorder Late In Life: Shines Light On Her Acting Career

Melissa Gilbert, the actress from Little House on the Prairie known as happy “Half-Pint” Laura Ingalls, opened up to PEOPLE about a neurological disability she has had since childhood. The actress “sobbed” when she found out that her deep frustration with specific noises was a treatable condition.

Gilbert was diagnosed later in life with misophonia, which is a disorder where you have a decreased tolerance to specific sounds and things you can sense related to them. In simpler terms, noises like chewing gum, eating, or nails on a table would trigger intense anger.

During her PEOPLE interview, the actress recalled shooting scenes as a kid and said:

“If any of the kids chewed gum or ate or tapped their fingernails on the table, I would want to run away so badly, I would turn beet red, and my eyes would fill up with tears, and I’d just sit there feeling absolutely miserable and horribly guilty for feeling so hateful towards all these people—people I loved.”

The 60-year-old actress recalled that time as “a really dark and difficult part” of her childhood. When she learned many years later that her disorder had a name and was treatable, Gilbert told PEOPLE, “I sobbed when I found out that it had a name and I wasn’t just a bad person.”

Misophonia In Her Childhood

Even her family did not understand her disorder. During her childhood her family thought she was fussy or rude. She explained that she would glare with “eyes filled with hate” whenever someone would chew around her. During her interview, she opened up more about this aspect of her childhood by saying:

“I really just thought that I was rude. And I felt really bad. And guilty, which is an enormous component of misophonia, the guilt that you feel for these feelings of fight or flight. It’s a really isolating disorder.”

How Melissa Gilbert Treated Her Misophonia

Although misophonia is not curable, it is treatable. When Gilbert learned of a possible treatment, she began work with Dr. Zach Rosenthal at Duke’s Center for Misophonia. She went through 16 weeks of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and said this of the experience:

“Now I have all these tools to enable me to be more comfortable and less triggered. It made me feel in control.”

If you would like to hear Gilbert’s full story about misophonia or get treatment for the neurological disorder yourself, you can visit Duke’s Center for Misophonia Website.

Watch Melissa Gilbert’s most recent tell-all below!