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• Family accommodation has not been explored in youth with misophonia. • Accommodation was common and more frequent in anxious youth. • Family accommodation directly predicted misophonia severity. • Accommodation may be an important intervention target. Family accommodation (e.g., reassurance, modifying routines, assisting avoidance) has not been explored among youth with misophonia but may have important clinical and intervention implications. We examined family accommodation in 102 children and adolescents with interview-confirmed misophonia and compared its frequency and content to family accommodation in 95 children and adolescents with anxiety disorders. Findings showed that family accommodation was ubiquitous in pediatric misophonia and may be even more frequent than in youth with anxiety disorders. Assisting the child, participating in misophonia-related behaviors, and modifying family routines were endorsed by more than 70% of parents of children with misophonia. Further, compared to parents of children with anxiety disorders, parents of children with misophonia more frequently reported child distress and anger when they did not accommodate. Family accommodation was moderately to strongly associated with misophonia severity even when accounting for co-occurring internalizing and externalizing symptoms and sociodemographic factors. This first study of family accommodation in pediatric misophonia suggests accommodation may be an important clinical feature. A notable study limitation is that the measure of misophonia did not delineate between adaptive versus maladaptive accommodations. Excessive and maladaptive accommodation may be one potential candidate to target in interventions when considered within a broader treatment plan. Importantly, adaptive accommodations should also be considered in day-to-day management if they improve functioning and quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe the perceptions of mental health clinicians practicing in the United States about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the presentation and treatment course of active clients with anxiety. Clinician participants reported on client symptomology at the beginning of treatment, just before (prior to March 2020), and at a mid-pandemic timepoint (December 2020/January 2021). An initial sample of 70 clinicians responded to a survey assessing their clients' overall anxiety severity, anxiety sensitivity, pathological uncertainty, family accommodation, and avoidance levels. Of these, 54 clinician responses were included in study analyses, providing detailed clinical information on 81 clients. Findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increases in anxiety severity in the majority of clients; overall, clinicians reported that 53% of clients had symptoms worsen due to COVID-19 and that only 16% experienced improvement of symptoms during treatment. Those who had lower levels of avoidance pre-pandemic and those who increased their frequency of treatment were more likely to experience increases in anxiety severity by the mid-pandemic timepoint. Further research is needed to understand the extended effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on anxiety symptomology and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is little information on the clinical presentation, functional impact, and psychiatric characteristics of misophonia in youth, an increasingly recognized syndrome characterized by high emotional reactivity to certain sounds and associated visual stimuli. One-hundred-two youth (8–17 years-old) with misophonia and their parents were recruited and compared with 94 youth with anxiety disorders. Participants completed validated assessments of misophonia severity, quality of life, as well as psychiatric symptoms and diagnoses. The most common misophonia triggers included eating (96 %), breathing (84 %), throat sounds (66 %), and tapping (54 %). Annoyance/irritation, verbal aggression, avoidance behavior, and family impact were nearly universal. Misophonia severity was associated with internalizing symptoms, child-reported externalizing behaviors, and poorer quality of life. High rates of comorbidity with internalizing and neurodevelopmental disorders were found. Quality of life and externalizing behaviors were not significantly different between misophonia and anxiety samples; internalizing symptoms and autism characteristics were significantly higher among youth with anxiety disorders. This self-selected sample was characterized by limited multicultural diversity. This study presents misophonia as a highly impairing psychiatric syndrome. Future interdisciplinary work should clarify the mechanisms of misophonia, establish evidence-based treatments, and extend these findings to randomly sampled and more culturally diverse populations. • Misophonia was associated with substantial functional impairment in this sample • Anger/irritation, avoidance behavior, and impact to family life were nearly universal • Anxiety disorders were common (45%) as were current or past depressive disorders (46%) • Other common comorbidities were attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (21%) and tic disorders (13%) • Youth with misophonia had elevated internalizing symptoms and autism features (though less than youth with anxiety) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Misophonia is a complex disorder characterized by a heightened reaction to certain sounds and associated stimuli. While there is no uniformly accepted treatment to date, different intervention approaches are being investigated. Individual's perceptions of different misophonia treatment methods may affect compliance and satisfaction with treatment options. We sought to gather data on patient perceptions of currently available misophonia treatments.Methods: Using an online survey, we collected data about treatment preferences, treatment usage, and diagnosis history from parents of children with misophonia (N = 141) and adults with misophonia (N = 252).Results: Most respondents were not satisfied with misophonia treatments that they or their children had previously received. Audiologic interventions including active and passive noise cancelling and lifestyle modifications were rated as most appropriate for treatment of misophonia by both parent and adult respondents.Limitations: Because of the descriptive nature of this study, we chose to use a completer-only approach to ensure the data reflect the true responses of participants, though this did result in a meaningful proportion of missing data. Participants were selected through convenience sampling and responses were self-reported. Individuals with more severe misophonia symptoms may be more likely to participate and complete a research survey.Conclusions: Most interventions are considered inappropriate by parents of youth with misophonia and by adults with misophonia. This should be interpreted in the light of a general lack of misophonia-specific interventions. Findings suggest dissatisfaction with currently available treatments and an opportunity for development of effective treatment strategies corresponding to participants' preferences. Deeper understanding of treatment preferences has the potential to guide future treatment development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure therapy is a highly effective, evidence-based treatment technique for children and adolescents with anxiety disorders. Regardless, therapists in the community are reported to use exposure relatively rarely compared with other approaches. The goal of the present study was to identify how practicing clinicians treat youth with anxiety disorders across the United States and what factors contribute to their use of exposure therapy. Recruited from public directories, 257 private practice therapists who treat anxious youth were surveyed. Non-exposure cognitive-behavioral techniques like cognitive restructuring and relaxation techniques were used significantly more frequently than exposure. Providers with more training in exposure therapy and fewer negative beliefs about this approach reported using exposure significantly more in the treatment of youth with social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, and panic disorders. Self-identification as an anxiety disorder specialist significantly predicted exposure use for youth with posttraumatic stress disorder. Most therapists in private practice have minimal training in exposure therapy, perceive a lack of training options, and believe there would be a benefit to acquiring more training. The implications of these findings are discussed, including how to optimally design training opportunities in exposure therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case report describes the treatment of an adolescent who presented for intensive treatment of severe co-occurring misophonic and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The presenting misophonic symptoms involved a strong anger and anxiety response to pen clicking, throat clearing, and squeaky noises. Cognitive-behavioral therapy was utilized to treat misophonic symptoms in the context of intensive treatment for obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Systematic data collection revealed that misophonic symptoms only reduced when exposures to misophonic specific stimuli were conducted. In addition to a substantial reduction in obsessive-compulsive symptom severity across treatment, misophonic symptoms reduced by 59% (from severe to mild severity) after only two sessions targeting these symptoms. At three months post-treatment, misophonic symptoms had reduced an additional 18% to subclinical severity. Results suggest cognitive-behavioral therapy may provide an effective treatment for adolescents with misophonia. A discussion of how to implement exposures for misophonic symptoms is provided in addition to other research and clinical recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (dTMS) has emerged as a treatment option for adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) who continue to exhibit impairing symptoms following an adequate response to first line interventions. Currently, little is known about the predictors or moderators of dTMS outcome for OCD. This paper examined if several theoretically relevant variables may predict and moderate treatment effects including OCD symptom severity, functional impairment, co-occurring depressive symptoms, age, gender, age of OCD onset, and family history of OCD. As part of a previously reported study, 100 patients received 29 dTMS or sham stimulation treatments over 6 weeks. dTMS was administered using a Magstim Rapid2 TMS (The Magstim Co. Ltd., Whitland, Carmarthenshire, United Kingdom) stimulator equipped with a H shaped coil design, which was specifically designed to stimulate the dorsal mPFC-ACC bilaterally. Findings suggest older participants and those with lower OCD severity and disability respond faster to both dTMS and sham stimulation. dTMS of the dorsal mPFC/ACC appeared to have larger benefits for individuals with greater OCD severity, whereas the difference between treatment arms was minimal in those with lower severity. Implications of these findings for treatment of OCD are discussed. • Moderators of dTMS for OCD have not been reported. • Older adults and those with lower OCD severity responded faster to dTMS and Sham. • dTMS appeared to have larger benefits for individuals with greater OCD severity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study examines the impact of COVID-19 on ERP outcome. • Rates of improvement that would be anticipated outside of a pandemic were attenuated during COVID-19. • Patients who endured financial distress or were medically at-risk had worse ERP outcomes. • Patients who were children or who had higher baseline doubt/uncertainty fared better in ERP during COVID-19 than adults on average or those with lower levels of doubt/uncertainity. The COVID-19 pandemic has created novel mental health challenges for those with pre-existing problems including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Our study reports on clinician perceptions regarding the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with OCD receiving exposure and response prevention treatment (ERP) prior to and during the pandemic. Participating clinicians completed a survey which included questions adapted from National Institute of Mental Health-Global Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (NIMH-GOCS) and Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS). Clinicians rated clinical features at treatment initiation, just prior to the pandemic, and mid-pandemic (July/August, 2020). Findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with attenuation of ERP progress from expected rates in most patients during first several months of the pandemic; clinicians estimated that 38% of their patients had symptoms worsen during the pandemic and 47% estimated that symptoms remained unchanged despite participating in ERP. Those who endured financial distress or were medically at-risk for severe COVID-19 disease had worse ERP course. Adults also had a worse ERP course during than pandemic than youth. Further research is needed to better understand the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on OCD symptomatology and treatment trajectory post-pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are an efficacious and effective treatment for pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) but have received scrutiny due to a potential side effect constellation called activation syndrome. While recent research introduced a subjective measure of activation syndrome, objective measures have not been tested. This pilot study, using data from a larger randomized-controlled trial, investigated the potential of actigraphy to provide an objective measure of activation symptoms in 44 youths with OCD beginning an SSRI medication regimen. Data were collected over the first four weeks of a multi-site, parallel, double-blind, randomized, placebo controlled psychopharmacological treatment study and statistical modeling was utilized to test how activation syndrome severity predicts daily and nightly activity levels. Results indicated that youths with higher activation symptoms had lower daytime activity levels when treatment averages were analyzed; in contrast youths who experienced onset of activation symptoms one week were more likely to have higher day-time and night-time activity ratings that week. Results support actigraphy as a potential objective measure of activation symptoms. Subsequent studies are needed to confirm these findings and test clinical applications for use by clinicians to monitor activation syndrome during SSRI treatment. National Institutes of Health (5UO1 MH078594-01); NCT00382291. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Providers report greater perceived feasibility delivering OCD treatment to individuals ages 13-to-65. • Treatment for OCD is perceived to have greater feasibility at lower-levels of symptom severity over telehealth compared to in-person delivery. • OCD providers repot greater ability to identify and address treatment interfering factors in-person relative to telehealth. Until recently, psychotherapies, including exposure and response prevention (ERP) for obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), have primarily been delivered in-person. The COVID-19 pandemic required OCD providers delivering ERP to quickly transition to telehealth services. While evidence supports telehealth ERP delivery, limited research has examined OCD provider perceptions about patient characteristics that are most appropriate for this modality, as well as provider abilities to identify and address factors interfering with effective telehealth ERP. In the present study, OCD therapists (N = 113) rated the feasibility of delivering telehealth ERP relative to in-person for different (1) patient age-groups, (2) levels of OCD severity, and (3) provider ability to identify and address factors interfering with ERP during in-person and telehealth ERP (e.g., cognitive avoidance, reassurance seeking, etc.). Providers reported significantly greater feasibility of delivering telehealth ERP to individuals ages 13-to-65-years relative to other age groups assessed. Greater perceived feasibility for telehealth relative to in-person ERP was reported for lower versus higher symptom severity levels. Lastly, providers felt better able to identify and address problematic factors in-person. These findings suggest that providers should practice appropriate caution when offering telehealth ERP for certain patients with OCD. Future research may examine how to address these potential limitations of telehealth ERP delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]