[CONTROLLING THE WAY OF THINKING, THE MENTAL STRESS AND THE ATTENTION ABILITY TO ALLEVIATE THE TINNITUS NUISANCE BY MEANS OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY (CBT)].

Introduction: About 15% of the population suffers from tinnitus but only in 2-3% of cases the tinnitus is severe with great functioning difficulties. The distress caused by tinnitus is mostly caused by the reaction to the tinnitus and not by the tinnitus itself.

Aims: Methods to alleviate the tinnitus distress are presented with emphasis on the importance of the primary detailed explanation to the patient.

Methods: The management of the severe response to tinnitus is based on the ability to control it instead of being controlled by it. This task is accomplished by explaining the essence of the tinnitus and imbuing the patient with control of three things: the way of thinking, the mental stress and attention ability.

Conclusions: The methods to mitigate tinnitus distress are presented. The importance of the primary detailed explanation to the patient is emphasized. The treatment is based on providing methods of mastering the way of thinking, controlling mental stress and managing the attention ability using the CBT technique.

Discussion: Ear, nose, and throat (E.N.T) practitioners lack knowledge of treatment of the emotional reaction to tinnitus which results in frustration when dealing with the patient's complaints. In this article the basic tools of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) treatment method are presented, along with explanations about the method with regard to coping with the emotional reaction to tinnitus.