What In Tune Parenting is:
The In Tune Parenting program is designed to support treatment of misophonia in youth. Given that many parts of this program overlap with SPACE training, caregivers may find this also helps them more effectively respond to youth anxiety disorders, such as OCD, social anxiety, separation anxiety, panic disorder, agoraphobia, selective mutism, generalized anxiety, or specific phobias.
However, unlike our general SPACE programming, the In Tune Parenting program focuses specifically on misophonia. Misophonia is relatively newly described in the medical literature and as such, research into how to most effectively treat it is still emerging. Thus, the In Tune Parenting curriculum as a whole has not been researched but rather pieces together a number of empirically supported components of established therapies.
First, the program 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 is for two reasons! First, many youth with misophonia have co-occurring anxiety disorders of which SPACE is an evidence-based treatment. 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.
Therapeutic Components:
- Structure: In Tune parenting is a structured and skills-driven program. Sessions or lessons are structured around learning and practicing skills to respond effectively to your child's misophonia.
- Theory: In Tune parenting is anchored in the theory of behaviorism. This means that the program teaches caregivers how to change their own behaviors to support their child's recovery. Caregivers also learn communication and validation skills to use with each other and with their child(ren).
- Intervention: As a behavioral parenting intervention, the In Tune program changes family dynamics by changing behaviors and familial patterns. In Tune parenting involves lots of learning, practicing, and modeling new skills for and with your youth. The program frequently improves relationships between family members by decreasing the negative impact of youth misophonia on the entire family system.
- Modalities: The TAP Clinic offers In-tune parenting interventions in a video learning format with supplementary individual sessions (if desired).
In Tune Parenting Interventions:
As a parent-based intervention, youth involvement is not required for any portion of treatment. This 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 anxiety.
The In Tune program 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 program exclusively focuses on changing parental behavior instead of youth behavior, which reduces escalation and empowers parents to take action to support their youth. We offer two forms of In Tune parenting interventions:
Video-Assisted In Tune Parenting:
Caregivers may purchase our 13-part video series (with corresponding workbook) to stream at their own convenience through the Vimeo platform. These videos are taught by Dr. Chloe Zachary and guide caregivers through the core components of In Tune parent training.
The program is available for purchase to the general public and requires no involvement with the TAP Clinic. The program is available for purchase at here.
Individual In Tune Treatment:
The In Tune program can be implemented in individual therapy using the same skills from the video learning programs. Individual In Tune sessions may also be adjuncts to the video learning series and are used to individualize the program to your family system, help trouble-shoot areas of difficulty, or answer additional questions.
What In Tune Parenting Treats: