MERGE: Misophonia and emotion regulation in a guided experience sampling study

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Clinical Research

Background:

• Misophonia is characterized by heightened sensitivity to specific sound triggers.
• Emotion regulation (ER) is a key factor in misophonia, influencing responses to aversive stimuli.
• Momentary fluctuations in misophonia symptoms are likely due to contextual factors and ER.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the real-time associations between momentary emotion regulation and misophonia symptoms.
• To better characterize the fluctuating nature of misophonia.
• To inform the development of tailored interventions for misophonia.

Main Methods:

• Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) used over 30 days to measure misophonia, ER strategies, and ER abilities.
• Sixty individuals with misophonia completed approximately 3000 momentary surveys.
• Data captured ER and misophonia during and outside of trigger exposure.

Main Results:

• 23-52% of individual variability in momentary misophonia, ER abilities, and strategies was attributed to within-person changes.
• Both within- and between-individual ER strategies and abilities were significantly related to misophonia symptoms.
• These associations remained significant even when controlling for time since trigger and trigger anticipation.

Conclusions:

• Significant individual variability exists in momentary misophonia, ER strategies, and ER abilities.
• Findings support the development of just-in-time adaptive interventions targeting momentary misophonia variability.
• Understanding real-time ER-misophonia dynamics is crucial for personalized treatment approaches.