What In Tune Parenting is:

This group is a short-term intervention designed to educate and support caregivers of youth with misophonia. This condition is relatively newly described in the medical literature and as such, research into how to most effectively treat it is still emerging. Thus, there are currently no well-established treatments for parents of youth with misophonia. The In Tune Parenting curriculum pieces together evidence-based components from other treatments and was created in consultation with Dr. Robbins, who treats youth with misphonia. First, the group provides caregivers with a comprehensive understanding of misophonia. Next, it educates caregivers about the common dynamics that play out around misophonia in families that can cause significant distress to both youth and caregivers. Caregivers will learn how the youth’s relationship to their misophonic distress causes suffering and concrete skills to model and support their youth in changing this. Finally, this group incorporates and adapts many components of Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE). This adaptation is for two reasons! First, many youth with misophonia have co-occurring anxiety disorders, which SPACE is an evidence-based treatment of. Second, very similarly to youth anxiety, misophonia in youth can entangle caregivers in a challenging cycle of pushing youth to tolerate distress or helping them avoid it. While caregivers certainly don’t cause misophonia, they can play a big role in supporting youth to more effectively manage it. Treatment focuses on helping caregivers to a) respond supportively to their child’s misophonic distress with a combination of validation and confidence, and b) reduce accommodating their child’s avoidance. This process helps caregivers get out of the common traps of “protecting” their child, “demanding” they manage their distress, or feeling lost and overwhelmed with how to help navigate. Similar to SPACE, this group exclusively focuses on changing parental behavior instead of youth behavior, which reduces escalation and empowers parents to take action to support their youth.

What In tune Parenting treats:

The In Tune Parenting Group is designed to support treatment of misophonia in youth. Given that many parts of this group overlap with SPACE training, caregivers may find this group also helps them more effectively respond to youth anxiety disorders, such as OCD, social anxiety, separation anxiety, panic disorder, agoraphobia, selective mutism, generalized anxiety, and specific phobias. However, unlike our general SPACE group, the In Tune Parenting Group

focuses specifically on misophonia. As a parent-based intervention, youth involvement is not required for any portion of treatment. This structure makes In Tune Parenting an ideal option for caregivers of youth who are unwilling or unable to engage in their own treatment. In Tune Parenting is also a great adjunct for caregivers when their youth is engaged in individual treatment, as the group uniquely attends to caregiver behavior. While the target of treatment

is the youth’s misophonic distress, most parents find In Tune Parenting improves their own well-being and sense of competence in navigating their child’s misophonia.
 
When In Tune Parenting Is: 

The In Tune Parenting Group at TAP consists of 11, one-hour virtual groups made up of caregivers of school aged youth with misophonia. Spots in our group are limited to ensure individualized attention in the group setting. In Tune Parenting groups run on an ongoing basis. Please inquire about the next opening.

 

To learn more about the TAP Clinic's In Tune Parenting program, check out our relevant blog

post: Q&A with a Misophonia Expert on the In Tune Parenting Program.

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