Kılıç Cengiz, Öz Gökhan, Avanoğlu Kezban Burcu, Aksoy Songül
Department of Psychiatry, Hacettepe University, Turkey; and Stress Assessment and Research Center, Hacettepe University, Turkey.
Stress Assessment and Research Center, Hacettepe University, Turkey.
BJPsych Open. 2021 Aug 6;7(5):e144. doi: 10.1192/bjo.2021.978.
Misophonia is defined as significant distress (anger, distress or disgust) when exposed to certain sounds that would not affect most people, such as lip smacking or gum chewing. Although misophonia is common, the aetiology, prevalence and effective treatments are largely unknown.
Based on our proposed diagnostic criteria, we examined the prevalence of misophonia and its relationship with clinical and demographic variables in a large representative population sample.
We used a household sample (N = 541) of all residents aged >15 years, living in 300 homes randomly selected in Ankara city centre, Turkey. All participants were assessed at their homes by trained interviewers, for sociodemographic variables, misophonic sounds and related factors, using a semi-structured interview (the Misophonia Interview Schedule) developed for the current research.
The current misophonia diagnosis prevalence was 12.8% (n = 69 of 541), although 427 (78.9%) participants reported at least one sound that was distressing. The mean number of misophonic sounds was 8.6 (s.d. 8.9, range 0-44); the figure was 17.6 in those with misophonia compared with 7.3 in those without misophonia. Of those with misophonia, only 5.8% contacted services for their condition. Predictors of misophonia diagnosis included younger age, family history of misophonia and previous contact with mental health services.
Our study showed that misophonia is common in the general population, may cause significant disruption in daily life and is undertreated. Although more evidence is needed to classify misophonia as a psychiatric disorder, our findings support others who claim that the condition belongs to the group of mental disorders.
恐音症的定义是，当暴露于某些不会影响大多数人的声音（如咂嘴或嚼口香糖的声音）时，会产生严重的苦恼情绪（愤怒、苦恼或厌恶）。尽管恐音症很常见，但其病因、患病率和有效治疗方法在很大程度上仍不为人知。
基于我们提出的诊断标准，我们在一个具有广泛代表性的大样本人群中，研究了恐音症的患病率及其与临床和人口统计学变量的关系。
我们采用了一个家庭样本（N = 541），样本来自土耳其安卡拉市中心随机抽取的300户家庭中所有年龄大于15岁的居民。所有参与者均在家中由经过培训的访谈者进行评估，使用为当前研究开发的半结构化访谈（恐音症访谈量表）来获取社会人口统计学变量、恐音相关声音及相关因素的信息。
当前恐音症的诊断患病率为12.8%（541人中69人），不过427名（78.9%）参与者报告至少有一种声音会让他们苦恼。恐音相关声音的平均数为8.6（标准差8.9，范围0 - 44）；恐音症患者的这一数字为17.6，而非恐音症患者为7.3。在患有恐音症的人群中，只有5.8%的人因自身状况寻求过医疗服务。恐音症诊断的预测因素包括年龄较小、有恐音症家族史以及之前曾接触过心理健康服务。
我们的研究表明，恐音症在普通人群中很常见，可能会对日常生活造成严重干扰，且治疗不足。尽管将恐音症归类为精神障碍还需要更多证据，但我们的研究结果支持了其他一些人的观点，即这种病症属于精神障碍类别。
