Misophonia in psychiatric disorders

Misophonia is a disorder that affects the social and occupational functionality of the person in which a feeling of discomfort, disgust, anger and rarely aggressive behaviors are observed as a result of exposure to certain sounds. In this study, we aimed to investigate the frequency of misophonia, the effect of misophonia on quality of life and its relationship with psychiatric disorders in healthy people and patients admitted to the psychiatry outpatient clinic. A total of 223 patients without a history of any organic disease, psychotic disorder or bipolar disorder, who applied to the Fırat University Hospital Mental Health and Diseases Polyclinic in 2022 for medical checkup , were included in the study. A total of 105 healthy individuals who met the conditions of the study and matched with the patient group in terms of age and gender were taken as the control group. Sociodemographic and clinical data form, World Health Organızation Quality of Life short form (WHOQOL-BREF), Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) Screening Questionnaire, Misophonia Symptoms List (MSL), Amsterdam Misophonia Scale (A-MISO-S) were administered to the participants. Misophonia was seen at a rate of 20.2 % in the patient, and 2.9% in the control group. The sounds most frequently disturbed by those diagnosed with misophonia were eating/chewing/smacking, snoring and throat clearing sounds. Misophonia was observed in 9.9% of those with anxiety, in 24.4% of those with depressive and in 50% of those with obsessive-compulsive disorders. The scores of the participants with misophonia related to mental and social sub-dimensions of the quality of life were found to be significantly lower than those without (p<0.001). The OCCD screening test score of those with misophonia was found to be significantly higher than the test score of those without (p=0.004). In conclusion, the diagnosis of misophonia was seen at a significantly higher rate in patients with psychiatric disorders than in healthy individuals. In addition, the fact that OCD was the most frequently seen comorbidity of misophonia suggests that misophonia can be handled together with obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders. Clarifying the relationship between misophonia and other mental disorders will help develop appropriate treatment approaches. Keywords: Misophonia, psychiatric disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder