The Efficacy of Lavender Herbal Tea in Misophonia

January 19, 2025 updated by: Sakarya University

The Effect of Lavender Herbal Tea on the Mental Health of Individuals With Misophonia: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Misophonia is a disorder characterized by a high level of annoyance with certain sounds. Exposure to these sounds causes physical symptoms characterized by anger, aggression, helplessness, overwhelm, and stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system. These emotional and physical reactions can lead to a decline in family relationships, work and school productivity, withdrawal from social relationships, and even suicide. There is limited empirical evidence evaluating the efficacy of therapeutic approaches to misophonia. This limited empirical evidence consists of pharmacological agents such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, stimulants, antipsychotics, and β-Blockers, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and dialectical behavior therapy. Complementary therapies are important because of their potential efficacy, tolerability, possible non-interference, and low cost. The fact that lavender has anxiolytic, antidepressant, neuroprotective, and anti-inflammatory properties may affect the emotional and physical responses elicited by misophonia. Therefore, within the scope of the study, misophonia individuals will be divided into two groups; one group will use lavender tea for 14 days and the other group will form a waiting list. The study data will be collected by 'Information Collection Form', 'Misophonia Scale', 'Beck Depression Inventory-II', 'Anxiety Rating Scale', and 'Trait Anger Scale'. SPSS 25.0 software will be used to analyze the data obtained from the research. Considering the limitations of therapeutic approaches for misophonia, testing the effectiveness of lavender in reducing misophonia symptoms will make an important contribution to the literature.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Misophonia is a disorder of vocal sensitivity characterized by unusual discomfort with certain sounds. Typical triggers are sounds produced by humans, particularly oral and nasal sounds. These sounds include chewing, slurping, breathing, keyboard sounds, or pen clicks. When individuals with misophonia are exposed to triggers, stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system and emotional distress are observed. Exposure to triggers creates irritation, desire to avoid stimuli, anger, aggression, helplessness, and overwhelm. Stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system leads to physical symptoms such as hypertonia, sweating, and tachycardia. The discomfort and stress caused by misophonia can lead to increased anxiety levels in individuals. At the same time, the emotional distress and discomfort associated with misophonia can trigger depressive symptoms and increase the risk of depression. Concomitant anxiety and depression can worsen the existing symptoms of misophonia and lead to a reduced quality of life.

There is limited empirical evidence evaluating the efficacy of therapeutic approaches to misophonia. Current treatment approaches include cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and psychotherapies derived from dialectical behavior therapy. Due to the small number of randomized controlled trials, the efficacy of the protocols used in the treatment of misophonia remains unclear. Due to limited resources, problems such as limited access to psychotherapies and early withdrawal from treatment are also observed. Other treatment approaches include pharmacological agents such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), stimulants, antipsychotics, and β-Blockers. Complementary therapies are used due to their potential efficacy, tolerability, possible non-interference, and low cost. Lavender, a complementary treatment intervention, is considered to have anxiolytic, antidepressant, neuroprotective, and anti-inflammatory properties. Lavender is known to positively affect memory, provide alertness, and improve feelings of well-being. Thus, it is seen as an effective herbal medicine intervention in reducing anxiety and depression. Reducing concomitant anxiety and depression may contribute to the improvement of the symptoms of misophonia.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Reporting at least three trigger sounds
  • Assessed by a specialist psychiatric nurse and a psychiatrist as humophonia based on the diagnostic criteria for humophonia established by Schröder et al. (2013)
  • Individuals aged 18 and over

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Allergy to any herbal tea, food or medicine
  • Psychiatric illness or chronic illness
  • Taking psychiatric medication (such as anxiolytics, and antidepressants)
  • Regular use of medication (such as antihypertensive, antidiabetic)
  • Regular use of herbal teas or complementary medicines
  • Tinnitus and/or hyperacusis

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Experimental group (lavender herbal tea)
Each participant will be allocated 14 pieces of lavender tea bags of 2 grams, originating from Turkey. The intervention group will be advised to use 2 g of lavender herb infused in 300 mL hot water for 10-15 minutes in the morning and evening for 14 days. Participants will be advised to take some time and inhale the scent before drinking the herbal tea.
Other: Lavender herbal tea
The participant will be allocated 14 pieces of lavender tea bags consisting of 2 grams and originating from Turkey. During 14 days, the participant will be advised to use 2 g of lavender herb brewed in 300 mL hot water for 10-15 minutes in the morning and evening. Participants will be able to use 1 lavender tea bag twice a day.
No Intervention: Control group (wait-list)
No intervention will be applied to the control group for 14 days.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Misophonia Scale
Time Frame: Within the first 24 hours after 14 days of lavender tea
It is a 30-item self-report scale aiming to assess the severity of misophonia. The scale is a 5-point Likert-type scale and is graded between 1: Strongly agree and 5: Strongly disagree to 5: Strongly disagree. The total score range is 30 - 150. As the score obtained from the scale decreases, the level of misophonia severity decreases.
Within the first 24 hours after 14 days of lavender tea

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II)
Time Frame: Within the first 24 hours after 14 days of lavender tea
It is a 21-item self-report inventory aimed at assessing the severity of depression. The items are rated from 0 to 3 depending on the severity of symptoms. The total score range is 0 to 63 and is divided into four grades in terms of severity: minimal depression (total score 0-13), mild depression (14-19), moderate depression (20-28) and severe depression (≥ 29).
Within the first 24 hours after 14 days of lavender tea
Anxiety Assessment Scale
Time Frame: Within the first 24 hours after 14 days of lavender tea
This scale, which evaluates anxiety, consists of 10 items. The scale is in 5-point Likert type and is expressed as 1: Never, 2: Very Rarely, 3: Sometimes, 4: Often, 5: Almost Always. There are no reverse scored items in the scale, the total scale score of anxiety is obtained by summing all items. The lowest score that can be obtained from the scale is 10 and the highest score is 50. The higher the total score, the higher the level of anxiety.
Within the first 24 hours after 14 days of lavender tea
Trait Anger Scale (SL-Anger)
Time Frame: Within the first 24 hours after 14 days of lavender tea
This scale is an assessment tool that measures how often and at what level individuals feel anger in their lives. Consisting of 10 items, this test is graded with a four-point Likert type (1=Never, 2=Sometimes, 3=Most of the time, 4=Always). The increase in the total score obtained from the scale indicates that the individual tends to feel anger more frequently and more intensely in his/her life.
Within the first 24 hours after 14 days of lavender tea

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sakarya University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

February 1, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

February 1, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

February 28, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 4, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 19, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 19, 2025

Last Verified

January 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 3-1-2024-SK

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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