United States: A recent study has discovered important information about misophonia, a condition where certain sounds, like chewing or breathing, make people feel very angry or anxious. This study, published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, found that misophonia is connected to our genes and shares similarities with mental health disorders, especially anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
As reported by PsyPost.org, the disorder is relatively new, and its etiology and pathophysiology are still not very well-defined. It is an illness that is usually described either as a psychiatric disorder or as a medical disorder, but the status of this classification is not conclusive.
In essence, much as misophonia poses a serious threat that makes certain individuals go seek professional help, little effort has been taken to unravel its biological and genetic background. The researchers wanted to prevent this knowledge gap by studying the genetic aspects of misophonia.
“As a researcher, when you explain what it is your working on — misophonia in this case — some get giggly ,” But I was very surprised to learn that very many would say, Oh, I know someone with that, or even, Oh, but that is me, said study author Dirk J. A. Smit, an assistant professor of psychiatric neuroscience and genetics at the Amsterdam University Medical Center.
“And they were not even giggling—they knew it is a genuine issue that impacts people’s lives.” In some cases, it results in families not eating together or people avoiding colleagues at lunch, after working, or other social functions. Many of the participants did not even know the word misophonia, which means that the phenomenon is not well-represented at all.”
For this study, the scientists employed a genetic assessment technique called Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS). A GWAS looks at all the genetic data of thousands of people in an effort to establish genetic markers of certain phenotypes or diseases.
In this case, the researchers analyzed genetic data related to a misophonia-like symptom: an emotion of anger that results from the sound of people chewing. The researchers employed data coming from different databases such as 23 and me, UK Biobank, and Psychiatric Genomics Consortium.
The sample comprised of 80,607 respondents that were asked whether or not they would get this rage reaction.
While this proxy does not encompass all the aspects of misophonia, and it provided useful starting point for the genetic analysis.
In addition to analyzing the genetic data related to this misophonia symptom the researcher also examined the genetic correlations between this symptom and 44 other traits or the disorders.
The research team categorized the 44 traits into the several groups: psychiatric disorders as in audiological conditions like tinnitus personality traits and other factors like educational attained.