Cognitive behavioral therapy is effective in misophonia

BACKGROUND: Misophonia is a psychiatric disorder in which ordinary human sounds like smacking or chewing provoke intense anger and disgust. Despite the high burden of this condition, to date there is no evidence-based treatment available. In this study we evaluated the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and investigated whether clinical or demographic characteristics predicted treatment response.

METHODS: Ninety patients with misophonia received eight bi-weekly group CBT sessions. Treatment response was defined as a Clinical Global Impression – Improvement Scale (CGI-I) score at endpoint of 1 or 2 (very much or much improved) and a 30% or greater reduction on the Amsterdam Misophonia Scale (A-MISO-S), a measure of the severity of misophonia symptoms.

RESULTS: Following treatment 48% (N=42) of the patients showed a significant reduction of misophonia symptoms. Severity of misophonia and the presence of disgust were positive predictors of treatment response.

LIMITATIONS: The A-MISO-S is not a validated scale. Furthermore, this was an open-label study with a waiting list control condition.

CONCLUSIONS: This is the first treatment study for misophonia. Our results suggest that CBT is effective in half of the patients.