Hate the sound of people chewing? Thats bad news for your risk of depression

Quiet, please!If the sounds of chewing, crunching, slurping, yawning, pen clicking, tapping, water dripping, sniffling, whistling and breathing make you angry or even panicked, you may have misophonia.The term, coined in 2001, describes a chronic condition in which certain sounds trigger strong negative responses that can affect daily life and social interactions.Research estimates that between 5% and 20% of the population suffer from misophonia, though it may be more, as it’s been called a “highly underreported phenomenon.”As if the intense emotions weren’t bad enough, research out of the Netherlands indicates that people with misophonia may have an increased genetic predisposition for anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and tinnitus, a constant buzzing or ringing in the ears.“We found that misophonia genetics was related to the genetics of the personality trait ‘irritability,’ which is kind of the essence of misophonia,” Dirk J.A.Smit, an assistant professor of psychiatric neuroscience and genetics at the Amsterdam University Medical Center, told PsyPost last year.“You get irritated and angry when you hear the trigger sound, which might then be followed by avoidance behaviors, feelings of guilt and more.”Smit led a study that used data from 80,000 people who suggested to 23andMe and other sources that they may have misophonia.The team selected 44 traits and disorders for its genetic correlation analysis, including psychiatric and audiological conditions, personality characteristics and socioeconomic factors like education.Past research identified the genetic locus rs2937573 as being strongly linked to sensitivity to chewing sounds.

The marker is near the TENM2 gene, which plays a crucial role in brain development.Smit told PsyPost “most of the results” of his analysis were “not really a surprise” — he found a genetic overlap between rage-related misophonia and PTSD, anxiety and major depressive disorder, as well as a ...