Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013;8(1):e54706.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054706. Epub 2013 Jan 23.

Misophonia: diagnostic criteria for a new psychiatric disorder

Arjan Schröder  1 , Nienke Vulink, Damiaan Denys
Affiliations

Misophonia: diagnostic criteria for a new psychiatric disorder

Arjan Schröder et al. PLoS One. 2013.

Abstract

Background: Some patients report a preoccupation with a specific aversive human sound that triggers impulsive aggression. This condition is relatively unknown and has hitherto never been described, although the phenomenon has anecdotally been named misophonia.

Methodology and principal findings: 42 patients who reported misophonia were recruited by our hospital website. All patients were interviewed by an experienced psychiatrist and were screened with an adapted version of the Y-BOCS, HAM-D, HAM-A, SCL-90 and SCID II. The misophonia patients shared a similar pattern of symptoms in which an auditory or visual stimulus provoked an immediate aversive physical reaction with anger, disgust and impulsive aggression. The intensity of these emotions caused subsequent obsessions with the cue, avoidance and social dysfunctioning with intense suffering. The symptoms cannot be classified in the current nosological DSM-IV TR or ICD-10 systems.

Conclusions: We suggest that misophonia should be classified as a discrete psychiatric disorder. Diagnostic criteria could help to officially recognize the patients and the disorder, improve its identification by professional health carers, and encourage scientific research.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

References

    1. Jastreboff PJ (2000) Tinnitus Habituation Therapy (THT) and Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT). In: Tyler RS, editor. Tinnitus Handbook. San Diego: Singular, Thomson Learning. 357–376.
    1. Hadjipavlou G, Baer S, Lau A, Howard A (2008) Selective sound intolerance and emotional distress: what every clinician should hear. Psychosom Med 70(6): 739–40. - PubMed
    1. Schwartz P, Leyendecker J, Conlon M (2011) Hyperacusis and misophonia: the lesser-known siblings of tinnitus. Minn Med 94(11): 42–3. - PubMed
    1. American Psychiatric Association (2000) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) Washington, DC: Author.
    1. World Health Organization (1994) International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision (ICD-10) Geneva: World Health Organization. - PubMed