Misophonia: diagnostic criteria for a new psychiatric disorder.
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.


RESULTS
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.
Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Arjan
A
Schröder
Nienke
N
Vulink
Damiaan
D
Denys
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D055815:Young Adult