The estimated prevalence of people who experience strong negative reactions when hearing certain commonsounds, such as chewing or sniffing, which were the symptoms of misophonia cause a significant burden in their life in the UK was estimated to be 18%. This finding was according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE that utilizes a multidimensional psychometric tool, the S-Five, to explore the intensity of the triggering misophonic sounds in everyday activities.
Misophonia: When Sounds Do Make You Crazy
Misophonia is recognized as a disorder characterized by a disproportionate emotional response to everyday sounds. The response can range from mild irritation to anger and distress and can result in impairment to social and occupational functioning.‘Individuals with misophonia reported that they felt trapped or helpless when they could not get away from these sounds.’
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Common manifestations of misophonia include feelings of anger, disgust, and anxiety; muscle tension; avoidance of triggering stimuli, withdrawal from social situations and, in some cases, verbal and physical aggression.There’s little research on the prevalence of misophonia in a general population, though previous studies have reported estimates ranging from 5-20 percent within specific samples, such as university students.
Here, researchers surveyed a sample representative of the UK general population. Of the 768 people surveyed, 51 percent identified as women, 48 percent as men, and 4 identified as non-binary/other. The mean age was 46.4. 13.6 percent of the sample was aware of the term misophonia before the survey, with 2.3 percent self-identifying as having misophonia.
Prevalence of Misophonia in the UK
The survey asked about common “trigger sounds” and asked respondents to describe their emotional response and its intensity using a 10-point scale. They also asked people about how these sounds affect their life, the way they see themselves, and their personal and professional relationships.They conducted interviews with 26 self-identified individuals with misophonia and 29 individuals from the general survey pool to establish a cut-off score for significant symptoms of misophonia. The new questionnaire allows researchers and clinicians to measure these aspects of misophonia and see how things change over time.
They found that 18 percent of their sample appeared to have significant symptoms of misophonia, which can include feeling trapped or helpless around these sounds, as well as blaming yourself for the strong reactions and missing out on things because of the impact of sounds.
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Though these results are specific to the UK, so may not be generalizable across countries and cultures. This survey tool may be useful to clinicians working in the misophonia field. Misophonia is more than just being annoyed by certain sounds, it’s about feeling trapped or helpless when you can’t get away from these sounds and missing out on things because of this.
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Source-Eurekalert