Article Version of Record

Etiology, composition, development and maintenance of misophonia: A conditioned aversive reflex disorder

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Dozier, Thomas H.

Abstract / Description

Misophonia is a recently identified condition in which an individual has an acute reaction of hatred or disgust to a specific commonly occurring sound. We propose that misophonia is a form of conditioned behavior that develops as a physical reflex through Pavlovian conditioning. Although misophonia is generally considered to be a one-step reaction, in which the sound elicits rage or disgust, as well as typical autonomic responses associated with these emotions, we propose that misophonia is a two-step reaction, in which the sound elicits an aversive conditioned physical reflex, and the aversive conditioned physical reflex elicits hatred or disgust. We also propose that the emotional response to trigger stimuli creates a Pavlovian conditioning paradigm that maintains or strengthens the misophonic physical reflex. Finally, we propose that new misophonic trigger stimuli are developed through the pairing of a neutral stimulus with a misophonic trigger stimulus. We suggest that a better name for misophonia is Conditioned Aversive Reflex Disorder (CARD) since it focuses attention on the reflexive nature of this condition and incorporates multiple stimuli modalities. A counterconditioning treatment for misophonia is presented with brief case descriptions which demonstrate the conditioned reflex nature of this disorder.

Keyword(s)

misophonia reflex conditioning aversive sounds conditioned response counterconditioning etiology

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2015-04-30

Journal title

Psychological Thought

Volume

8

Issue

1

Page numbers

114–129

Publisher

PsychOpen GOLD

Publication status

publishedVersion

Review status

peerReviewed

Is version of

Citation

Dozier, T. H. (2015). Etiology, composition, development and maintenance of misophonia: A conditioned aversive reflex disorder. Psychological Thought, 8(1), 114–129. https://doi.org/10.5964/psyct.v8i1.132
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Dozier, Thomas H.
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2018-11-28T10:02:05Z
  • Made available on
    2018-11-28T10:02:05Z
  • Date of first publication
    2015-04-30
  • Abstract / Description
    Misophonia is a recently identified condition in which an individual has an acute reaction of hatred or disgust to a specific commonly occurring sound. We propose that misophonia is a form of conditioned behavior that develops as a physical reflex through Pavlovian conditioning. Although misophonia is generally considered to be a one-step reaction, in which the sound elicits rage or disgust, as well as typical autonomic responses associated with these emotions, we propose that misophonia is a two-step reaction, in which the sound elicits an aversive conditioned physical reflex, and the aversive conditioned physical reflex elicits hatred or disgust. We also propose that the emotional response to trigger stimuli creates a Pavlovian conditioning paradigm that maintains or strengthens the misophonic physical reflex. Finally, we propose that new misophonic trigger stimuli are developed through the pairing of a neutral stimulus with a misophonic trigger stimulus. We suggest that a better name for misophonia is Conditioned Aversive Reflex Disorder (CARD) since it focuses attention on the reflexive nature of this condition and incorporates multiple stimuli modalities. A counterconditioning treatment for misophonia is presented with brief case descriptions which demonstrate the conditioned reflex nature of this disorder.
    en_US
  • Publication status
    publishedVersion
  • Review status
    peerReviewed
  • Citation
    Dozier, T. H. (2015). Etiology, composition, development and maintenance of misophonia: A conditioned aversive reflex disorder. Psychological Thought, 8(1), 114–129. https://doi.org/10.5964/psyct.v8i1.132
    en_US
  • ISSN
    2193-7281
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1600
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1966
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Publisher
    PsychOpen GOLD
  • Is version of
    https://doi.org/10.5964/psyct.v8i1.132
  • Keyword(s)
    misophonia
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    reflex
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    conditioning
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    aversive sounds
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    conditioned response
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    counterconditioning
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    etiology
    en_US
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    Etiology, composition, development and maintenance of misophonia: A conditioned aversive reflex disorder
    en_US
  • DRO type
    article
  • Issue
    1
  • Journal title
    Psychological Thought
  • Page numbers
    114–129
  • Volume
    8
  • Visible tag(s)
    Version of Record