Misophonia, Maladaptive Schemas and Personality Disorders: A Report of Three Cases

• Published in: Journal of contemporary psychotherapy Vol. 50; no. 1; pp. 29 - 35
• Main Authors: Natalini, Eleonora, Dimaggio, Giancarlo, Varakliotis, Theodoros, Fioretti, Alessandra, Eibenstein, Alberto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.03.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original Paper; Personality and Social Psychology; Personality disorders; Psychiatry; Public Health; Anger; Misophonia; Disgust; Maladaptive schema; Personality disorder; Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder
• ISSN: 0022-0116; 1573-3564
• DOI: 10.1007/s10879-019-09438-3

Misophonia is a chronic condition in which specific sounds cause intense negative emotions and autonomic arousal. Misophonia is considered a psychological disorder without any relationship with specific alterations of hearing receptors and independent from physical characteristics of the sound. Moreover if misophonia can be defined as a specific psychiatric disorder or a correlate of other conditions is still under debate. The patients were two women and one man. In this case series we first identified the presence of triggers sounds inducing misophonia as reported during the psychotherapy sessions. At a qualitative level all the three patients perceived that the others were intentionally acting with the purpose of underline their maladaptive interpersonal schemas. All the patients were evaluated with the use of questionnaires. Regarding personality disorders (PD) all three patients suffered from at least one PD. As regard depression, one had moderate depression and one had severe depression. Two patients had moderate/severe anxiety. All the three patients can be considered as highly problematic in the interpersonal domain. Our findings have clinical implications for the treatment of misophonia because it seems to be sustained by underlying PD or maladaptive interpersonal schemas. The qualitative analysis of these cases has highlighted how patients with misophonia tended to ascribe intentionality to the people who emit the sounds that trigger their negative emotional reactions. Further studies are necessary to evaluate which kind of interpersonal patterns occur in these patients.