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three cluster description of Misophonia symptoms

In a 2022 study, Norris aimed to characterize symptom presentation patterns in misophonia using cluster analysis in a non-clinical undergraduate sample (N=343) with measures assessing misophonia symptoms, tinnitus severity, sensory hypersensitivity, broad autism phenotype characteristics, and psychiatric symptoms. They found a three-cluster solution: Cluster 1 exhibited severe misophonia with fewer co-occurring psychiatric diagnoses, Cluster 3 showed complex presentation with broadband sensory hypersensitivities and increased psychiatric symptoms, and Cluster 2 was relatively unaffected; approximately 15.6% reported clinically relevant misophonia symptoms with increased co-occurrence of tinnitus, and anxiety intensity partially mediated the relationship between misophonia severity and emotional behaviors. From this they concluded that misophonia exists on a spectrum with subgroups potentially reflecting different underlying pathways, ranging from "pure form" misophonia to presentations involving broad sensory and psychiatric symptoms, highlighting the importance of exploring misophonia as a etiologically complex and multidimensional condition (Norris et al., 2022).