Stressful life events and tinnitus : Reflections and speculations.

The role of life events has not been extensively studied in the context of tinnitus. There is, however, evidence about the psychological impact of tinnitus and about the influence of psychological processes as mediators of the tinnitus experience. On the basis of this evidence, the possibility that stressful life events can act as a trigger for tinnitus is discussed; although the evidence is fragmentary and indirect, the possibility cannot be discounted.

How people with tinnitus-related insomnia experience group CBT-for-insomnia (CBTi): a thematic analysis.

Although insomnia often compounds tinnitus, sleeping problems in people experiencing tinnitus are rarely treated. This study investigates the experiences of participants receiving Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for insomnia (CBTi) as part of a randomised controlled trial for managing tinnitus-related insomnia. The aim of this study is to gain detailed insight into participants' perceptions and experiences of this treatment.

Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBTi) as a treatment for tinnitus-related insomnia: a randomised controlled trial.

Insomnia is a significant difficulty and is reported by large proportion of people with tinnitus. Although cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBTi) might be an effective treatment, no controlled studies had been conducted to date. This randomised controlled trial evaluated the benefits of CBTi on a sample of 102 people with tinnitus-related insomnia.

I Wasn't at War With the Noise: How Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy Changes Patients' Experiences of Tinnitus.

Objectives: Intrusive tinnitus is a challenging, life-changing experience for which traditional medical treatment does not yet have a cure. However, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for tinnitus (MBCT-t) is effective in reducing tinnitus-related distress, disability and intrusiveness. It is a priority to understand patients' experience of MBCT-t and active processes which they regarded as underpinning the changes they experienced.

Current Validated Medical Treatments for Tinnitus: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Tinnitus distress results from a weave of physical and psychological processes. Reducing the power of the psychological processes will therefore reduce the degree of suffering. The main psychological therapy in this context is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

Cognitive behavioural therapy for tinnitus-related insomnia: evaluating a new treatment approach.

Objective: Insomnia frequently occurs alongside distressing tinnitus, and greater tinnitus severity is associated with more sleep disturbance. Insomnia and tinnitus probably share common underlying processes and sleep studies show striking similarities between primary and tinnitus-related insomnia. This is the first study to evaluate outcomes following insomnia-specific Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBTi) for tinnitus-related insomnia in a "real world" clinic.

Living with tinnitus and the health care journey: An interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Objectives: Tinnitus is a very common experience, and although usually mild, in a significant proportion of people, it is intrusive, persistent, and disabling. This paper explores the lived experience of chronic disabling tinnitus, with the aim of understanding how distress and chronicity occur, and what might help to reduce this.

Design: Nine individuals were interviewed 6 months after completing mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) as part of a randomized controlled trial.

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy as a Treatment for Chronic Tinnitus: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Tinnitus is experienced by up to 15% of the population and can lead to significant disability and distress. There is rarely a medical or surgical target and psychological therapies are recommended. We investigated whether mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) could offer an effective new therapy for tinnitus.

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Chronic Tinnitus: Evaluation of Benefits in a Large Sample of Patients Attending a Tinnitus Clinic.

Objectives: Mindfulness-based approaches may benefit patients with chronic tinnitus, but most evidence is from small studies of nonstandardized interventions, and there is little exploration of the processes of change. This study describes the impact of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) in a "real world" tinnitus clinic, using standardized MBCT on the largest sample of patients with chronic tinnitus to date while exploring predictors of change.

Design: Participants were 182 adults with chronic and distressing tinnitus who completed an 8-week MBCT group.

State Anxiety Subjective Imbalance and Handicap in Vestibular Schwannoma.

Introduction: Evidence is emerging for a significant clinical and neuroanatomical relationship between balance and anxiety. Research has suggested a potentially priming effect with anxiety symptoms predicting a worsening of balance function in patients with underlying balance dysfunction. We propose to show that a vestibular stimulus is responsible for an increase in state anxiety, and there is a relationship between increased state anxiety and worsening balance function.

Impact of Multiple Factors on the Degree of Tinnitus Distress.

Objective: The primary cause of subjective tinnitus is a dysfunction of the auditory system; however, the degree of distress tinnitus causes depends largely on the psychological status of the patient. Our goal was to attempt to associate the grade of tinnitus-related distress with the psychological distress, physical, or psychological discomfort patients experienced, as well as potentially relevant social parameters, through a simultaneous analysis of these factors.

Methods: We determined the level of tinnitus-related distress in 531 tinnitus patients using the German version of the tinnitus questionnaire (TQ).

A scientific cognitive-behavioral model of tinnitus: novel conceptualizations of tinnitus distress.

The importance of psychological factors in tinnitus distress has been formally recognized for almost three decades. The psychological understanding of why tinnitus can be a distressing condition posits that it becomes problematic when it acquires an emotive significance through cognitive processes. Principle therapeutic efforts are directed at reducing or removing the cognitive (and behavioral) obstacles to habituation.

Learning to live on a Mars day: fatigue countermeasures during the Phoenix Mars Lander mission.

Study Objectives: To interact with the robotic Phoenix Mars Lander (PML) spacecraft, mission personnel were required to work on a Mars day (24.65 h) for 78 days. This alien schedule presents a challenge to Earth-bound circadian physiology and a potential risk to workplace performance and safety.

Caffeine abstinence: an ineffective and potentially distressing tinnitus therapy.

The effect of phased caffeine withdrawal and abstention on tinnitus severity was assessed using a pseudo-randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled crossover trial of 30 days duration. Sixty-six volunteers who experienced tinnitus and who usually consumed at least 150 mg/day of caffeine participated. The intervention was a direct replacement of usual caffeinated tea/coffee with double-blinded supplies, under one of two conditions.

The role of cognition in tinnitus.

Conclusions: The role of cognition in tinnitus is difficult to ignore. First, tinnitus is likely to disrupt cognitive functioning, and there are some indications that tinnitus patients have impaired capacity to perform certain cognitive tasks. Second, evidence is emerging that tinnitus patients show cognitive bias in the way they handle information.