What you think about something affects how you feel about it.
Imagine this: A friend is coming to your place so you can go on a walk together, but they don't show up on time. How you perceive them being late will affect you emotionally (how your feel). For instance, you might get angry if you think they're being rude. Or, since they're driving, you might wonder if they had an accident, and as a result, now you're worried. Another possibility: You're happy your friend is late because you can use the extra time to finish cleaning the dishes.
The takeaway: In all three scenarios, the event (your friend's lateness) is the same, but how you thought about it varies. Sometimes the way you feel is caused by your thoughts about the event, not the event itself.
When you think about tinnitus, how do you feel?
Why this matters
What you think affects how you feel, and your feelings affect your health. For example, negative emotions — especially persistent ones — can lead to many health problems. When you're negatively stressed, your brain releases hormones that increase heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension. This hormonal reaction (fight or flight) is constructive in emergencies. But when your brain releases these hormones too often, it negatively impacts your health. For instance, people who are negatively stressed for long durations are more likely to get colds, heart disease, and other health problems.
The takeaway: Change your thoughts, and your feelings will change too. So, learning how to change thoughts that trigger negative feelings about tinnitus can change your reaction to tinnitus.
How do you change your thoughts?
Clinicians use various techniques to help their patients change their reactions to tinnitus. The following are proven techniques for accomplishing this:
- Practicing relaxation exercises (deep breathing, imagery)
- Increasing time doing pleasant activities
- Learning how to change your thoughts about tinnitus
This post focuses on changing thoughts so you can change your feelings about tinnitus. So, we need to talk about thought errors.
What are thought errors?
Thoughts that are not beneficial or unhealthy are called "thought errors" and can be tenacious and habit-forming. For instance, as a result of your own erroneous thinking, you can make yourself feel irritated or perturbed.
You can change this harmful pattern of thinking, however. When you become aware of your thought errors, you can correct your thinking — and as a result, change your emotional response to tinnitus.
►Learn 12 common thought errors with tinnitus examples, click here to download your worksheet.
Tinnitus and 12 common thought errors
The National Center for Rehabilitative Audiology Research (NCRAR) recommends people with tinnitus learn to recognize 12 common thought errors. Doing this can correct your erroneous thinking, which will help you better manage your reactions to tinnitus.
Give it a try: To better understand what this is all about, let's look at four common thought errors. As you review them, consider how these thought errors might influence your feelings about tinnitus.
1. All-or-nothing thinking: When you see things in only two categories, such as black or white.
- Tinnitus example: "If my tinnitus is loud when I wake up in the morning, I know I will have a bad day."
- Corrected thought: "I'm learning ways to have a good day even when my tinnitus is loud."
2. Over-simplifying: When you see one bad event as a pattern that never changes.
- Tinnitus example: "I was awake all night from my tinnitus. This will happen every night."
- Corrected thought: "Last night my tinnitus kept me awake, but most nights I eventually fall asleep."
3. Focusing on incorrect details: When you pick out a single detail and focus on it. You don't think about other more positive details.
- Tinnitus example: "My tinnitus made it hard to enjoy dinner with a friend."
- Corrected thought: "My tinnitus was really loud at dinner. However, it was great to see my friend again and to catch up."
4. Jumping to conclusions: When you think an event was unpleasant even though there are no facts to support that. You might assume that you know what someone else is thinking or assume things will turn out badly.
- Tinnitus example: "My tinnitus kept me awake last night. The next day I met a friend for coffee. I was exhausted and didn't talk much. I'll bet he thought I was boring."
- Corrected thought: "It was difficult to be so tired all day. I told my friend about my tinnitus keeping me awake. He was very supportive."
► Go deeper: If you'd like to learn all 12 thought errors with tinnitus examples and room for your own examples, click here to download your worksheet.
Next, in Part 2 of our Relief for Tinnitus Series, we take the next step with thought errors, an 8-step process to help correct them.
Get help for your tinnitus
Treating tinnitus may require a mix of approaches, so where do you start? For expert guidance, schedule a visit with one of our audiologists. They'll help you discover what therapy or combination gives you relief.
