Investigation of misophonia frequency, disgust sensitivity, and anger expression style in patients diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Abstract

Objective: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic psychiatric condition characterized by recurrent obsessions and/or compulsions that cause marked distress and functional impairment. Emerging evidence suggests a potential link between OCD and misophonia, a condition defined by disproportionate emotional and physiological responses to specific auditory stimuli. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of misophonia in individuals with OCD and to explore its associations with disgust sensitivity and anger expression styles. Methods: The study included 51 patients diagnosed with OCD according to DSM-5 criteria and 61 age - and gender-matched healthy controls. All participants completed the Padua Inventory-Washington State University Revision (PI-WSUR) to assess OCD symptoms, the Misophonia Scale (MS) to evaluate misophonia severity, the Disgust Sensitivity Scale-Revised (DS-R) to assess disgust sensitivity, and the Trait Anger-Anger Expression Scale (TA-AES) to evaluate anger expression patterns. Data were analyzed using appropriate statistical methods. Results: Patients with OCD exhibited significantly higher total misophonia scores compared to healthy controls (p = 0.037). Statistically significant differences were also observed between groups in DS-R total and subscale scores (p < 0.001), as well as in the TA-AES subscales of trait anger (p < 0.001), anger control (p < 0.001), and anger out (p = 0.036). Positive and statistically significant correlations were identified between MS total score and DS-R total (r = 0.313), core disgust (r = 0.296), and contamination disgust (r = 0.422) subscales. Additionally, MS total score was positively correlated with PI-WSUR total score (r = 0.459) and all subscales except for the checking compulsion subscale. Conclusion: These findings suggest that misophonia frequently co-occurs with OCD and is significantly associated with elevated disgust sensitivity and maladaptive anger expression styles. The observed symptom overlap may reflect shared neurobiological or cognitive mechanisms. Further studies are warranted to elucidate the underlying pathways linking misophonia and OCD and to evaluate interventions targeting misophonia symptoms in this population.