scholarly journals Confinement and the Hatred of Sound in Times of COVID-19: A Molotov Cocktail for People With Misophonia

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonia Ferrer-Torres ◽  
Lydia Giménez-Llort

Forced strict confinement to hamper the COVID-19 pandemic seriously affected people suffering from misophonia (M+) and those living with them. Misophonia is a complex neurophysiological and behavioral disorder of multifactorial origin, characterized by an intense physiological and emotional response produced by intolerance to auditory stimuli of the same pattern, regardless of physical properties. The present work studied the secondary impact that strict confinement caused in 342 adults (224 women: 118 men) regularly attending a medical psychological center in Barcelona. Misophonia, usually underdiagnosed, showed a prevalence of 35%, the same for women (37%) than men (31%). A retrospective analysis using a physical-psychological-social inventory of 10 variables evaluated the number of individuals that during confinement and self-confinement (March 11 - June 29, 2020) canceled (mostly M-) and/or requested a therapeutic intervention, the reasons for their request, and the strategies they used to self-manage the situation. Ten main variables indicated that the confinement exponentially increased the effects of misophonia compared with results from the same individuals during the last quarter of 2019. Most people diagnosed with misophonia continued with tele-assistance during the confinement because of this impact's self-concern. Besides the impacts as part of the general population, M+ also developed different symptoms causing significant personal, social, and job/occupational imbalance, as compared to M-. Health, fears, conflicts with neighbors, study-related difficulties were outstanding reasons for consultations. The LSB-50 test for ‘Psychological and Psychosomatic Symptoms’ applied to M+ revealed the increase of 8 of 9 items of this psychopathological test. Sleep disorders (coronasomnia), hostility, depression, and somatization were more severe than in previous assessments. Women presented the worst psychological and psychosomatic states (eight out of nine, as compared to one out of nine in males). The study unveiled the complex physical-psychological-social burden, the need for dissemination and a gender perspective to understand the secondary impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of the population with misophonia. The results also show that in this new COVID era people suffering from misophonia need to develop coping strategies addressing modifiable risk and protective factors. They deserve familial/social comprehension, stronger clinical support and a gender medicine perspective.

1971 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Horvath

As long as mental illness is regarded as primarily a behavioral disorder, current and foreseeable manpower shortages in psychiatry make it necessary to increase the participation of nonmedical personnel in the treatment process. The controversy between those advocating behavioral treatment and those favoring the medical model cannot be resolved due to the fact that our current knowledge of the biologic roots of mental illness is inadequate. A breakthrough in research in this area could resolve the argument and solve the manpower problem by transferring psychiatric disorders into physiologic disease susceptible to medical treatment. Alternative models for the delivery of mental health services can be developed to allow for different possibilities in the outcome of research. Additional data is needed, especially on the costs and effectiveness of future therapies, before an evaluation of programs can be carried out.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10819
Author(s):  
Shu-Mei Liu ◽  
Shu-Fang Shih ◽  
Bo Meng ◽  
Rui Zhen ◽  
Xiao-Ben Pan ◽  
...  

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19) has greatly impacted the life and mental health of many people globally. The objective of this study was to investigate the factors associated with preventive behaviors and mental health among Chinese adults during their home quarantine in the COVID-19 period. An online questionnaire survey was administered in March 2020. The study participants were adults aged between 18 and 70 years old from 31 provinces in China. Of the 3878 participants, 1314 reported moderate levels of anxiety, and the remaining participants reported moderate to severe levels of anxiety. Findings revealed that females aged between 18 and 30 years old who had higher educational qualifications, greater levels of preventive knowledge, trust in the government, and resided in urban and medium-risk areas (R2 = 0.100, F = 27.97, p < 0.001) were more likely to exhibit preventive behaviors. In contrast, a higher negative emotional response was generally seen in males who had low levels of preventive knowledge and behaviors, higher risk perception of infection, lower trust in the government, and unhealthy lifestyles (R2 = 0.127, F = 32.33, p < 0.001). In addition, the high-risk perception of infection was positively associated with high odds of anxiety (AOR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.10–1.24), whereas a greater level of preventive knowledge (AOR = 0.36, 95% CI: 0.19–0.70) and behaviors (AOR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.57–0.84), higher trust in the government’s COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures (AOR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.71–0.83), and a healthier lifestyle (AOR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.79–0.99) were negatively associated with high odds of anxiety. Results showed that a lower level of anxiety and negative emotional response were associated with better preventive behaviors against COVID-19, which were influenced by preventive knowledge, risk perception, trust in the government’s COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures, and healthy lifestyle. Findings in this study could help formulate health interventions for vulnerable groups related to gendered vulnerabilities in the COVID-19 environment to improve their mental health and preventive behaviors, especially during the period of a pandemic.


2019 ◽  
Vol 211 (8) ◽  
pp. 351-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fergus W Gardiner ◽  
Mathew Coleman ◽  
Narcissus Teoh ◽  
Abby Harwood ◽  
Neil T Coffee ◽  
...  

1996 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 301-303
Author(s):  
L. B. Bartlet

Educational pressure on children is worldwide. In the United Kingdom this is seen in the growth of structured classes and courses for two- to four-year-olds such as ‘Making French Fun’ and ‘Musical Appreciation for Under Fours' (Matthews, 1995). Such programmes are of particular interest to aspiring middle-class parents but other groups also have high educational expectations. Some parents with a West Indian background, believing the British educational system to be superior to that in their country of origin, look for high attainments which often results in their children showing psychosomatic symptoms. In developing countries the signs of educational pressure are especially evident.


2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (10) ◽  
pp. 895-906 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harvey Whiteford ◽  
Gemma McKeon ◽  
Meredith Harris ◽  
Sandra Diminic ◽  
Dan Siskind ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S380-S380
Author(s):  
Regina M Koepp

Abstract In order to provide effective mental health care to older adults with major neurocognitive disorders (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias) within outpatient mental health clinics, mental health practitioners must possess a basic understanding of these disorders, the needs of and challenges faced by people living with dementia and their families, and effective treatment approaches for this population. The Mental Health Gero-Champions Program was established in 2015 at a large Veterans Affairs medical center with the aim of providing clinical support and opportunities for training to multidisciplinary mental health providers to enhance skills in assessing and treating older adults with neurocognitive disorders. This presentation will provide an overview of the Mental Health Gero-Champions Program, describe the development and implementation of this program, and discuss challenges and successes in sustaining this transformative initiative over time.


1999 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Jacomb ◽  
A. F. Jorm ◽  
B. Rodgers ◽  
A. E. Korten ◽  
A. S. Henderson ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S2) ◽  
pp. 228-228
Author(s):  
M. Luciano ◽  
V. Del Vecchio ◽  
C. Malangone ◽  
D. Giacco ◽  
C. De Rosa ◽  
...  

IntroductionBipolar disorder is associated with high personal and social burden, impaired social functioning and high levels of disability. The psychoeducational family intervention, found to be effective in the treatment of schizophrenia, may be particularly useful for patients with bipolar disorder and their relatives.Aims & methodsThis study, funded by the Italian Ministry of Health, coordinated by the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Naples SUN and carried out in 11 randomly selected mental health centres, included the following phases1) development of informative materials;2) training of 2 mental health workers per center;3) random selection of 16 families of patients with bipolar disorder for each center: 8 being randomly allocated to the experimental group and 8 to the control group.Results62 families have been recruited. Mental health workers reported several advantages in conducting the intervention, in particular in the relationship with patients and families. Significant improvements have been reported in professional skills and relationships with colleagues. The advantages tend to increase over time. The main reported difficulties are lack of time to run the intervention, identification of appropriate families, excessive workload and the need to integrate this intervention with other work commitments.ConclusionsIt is possible to provide psychoeducational family intervention for patients with bipolar I disorder and their families, after a relatively short period of training. In order to facilitate the dissemination of this intervention in routine conditions, a better planning of the activities of the mental health centers may be useful.


PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e10440
Author(s):  
Ting Wang ◽  
Yitong Zhao ◽  
Yifeng Xu ◽  
Zhuoying Zhu

Background Emotion plays an important role in mental health. Studying the relationship between emotion and mental health requires effective emotion-eliciting materials. Most standardized emotional stimuli, however, were based on Western contents and have not been validated in other cultures. The present study compared the emotional response to standard Western videos with videos of Chinese contents in a large representative Chinese sample. The effects of content source (film vs. real-life) and delivery medium (online vs. offline), as well as the effects of demographic factors were investigated. Participants’ depression level was assessed to test the potential use of the videos in mental health research. Methods Top-ranked videos of basic emotions commonly implicated in mental health (happiness, sadness, anger, and fear) were chosen from a widely used Western video database. Twelve corresponding Chinese videos (film or real-life) were selected, with three clips for each emotion. In addition, three Chinese videos of the emotion “awe” were included because of the growing research attention to its role in promoting mental health. A large representative sample were recruited (N = 348) either online or offline and each participant viewed and rated his/her emotional reaction to all videos. Results All Chinese and Western videos effectively elicited target emotions. The intensity of emotional response was generally higher for Chinese videos than for Western videos. Film and real-life videos provided mixed results in terms of the intensity of elicited emotions. There was a small difference in the delivery medium in which one video watched online were rated more intense than being watched in the laboratory. Older adults were more emotional reactive than young people in general, but the latter showed more differentiated response to Chinese versus Western videos. People with higher education levels responded less to happy videos. Finally, emotional reactivity of anger and awe were negatively related to depression level, which was partially consistent with the emotional-context-insensitivity (ECI) hypothesis of depression. Conclusions The results suggest that both Western and Chinese videos could reliably elicit emotion in Chinese people, but videos with local contents were generally more effective. The set of videos can be a useful tool for studying emotion and mental health in the Chinese cultural context.


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