Can a psychotherapist help with your tinnitus? Therapies are effective treatment options for many health issues, including both physical and mental. Therapies include talk processes, exercises, thinking, and more similar types of techniques. Do you know who conducts effective therapies to treat conditions like tinnitus and its rare types?
A psychotherapist provides you with the help you need. They engage in talk therapies to promote healing and mindfulness in people experiencing mental issues and physical complications due to certain health problems or conditions. Since tinnitus can be a stressful and anxiety-triggering condition for many people, it is best to find out what services a psychotherapist can provide to help you deal with severe symptoms.
They may be psychiatrists, counselors, social workers, and psychologists. Some psychotherapists may provide all services if they have the education, training, practice, experience, further learning, and passion, such as Stephen Geller Katz, LCSW-R at the Tinnitus Cognitive Center. Psychotherapists’ primary focus is to enhance your cognitive thinking and help you deal with emotions, negative feelings, valid thought processes, and more.
Learning about Tinnitus – A Sound Disorder
Before you look at how psychotherapists might help treat and manage the severe implications of tinnitus, let’s take a brief look at what tinnitus is.
It is a condition in which you hear ringing in one or both of the ears. Patients have reported hearing sensations like ringing and more, including whishing, whistling, clicking, roaring, etc. These sounds can occur with varying pitches and intensity. Moreover, they can last for a couple of minutes sometimes or prevail for longer.
The main causes of this condition include previous health conditions related to cardiovascular health, musculoskeletal movements, heart diseases, ear conditions (injuries, damage, disorders, diseases, auditory nerve tumors, etc.)
Subjective tinnitus occurs when you are the only one hearing the sensations (tinnitus sounds) in your ears. On the other hand, experts describe “objective tinnitus” as when the person examining you can also detect and perceive the sensations. There is no external sound source for these noises which means that your body’s internal systems are responsible for them.
Why Are Psychotherapists Necessary for Tinnitus Treatment?
Since psychotherapists deal with many mental and physical health issues, they are aware of the latest and most modern treatment options. It is worth mentioning that they use several therapies as a technique to solve the implications of tinnitus. Some severe symptoms of when there is irregular or constant tinnitus (chronic tinnitus) include:
- Anxiety
- Stress
- Depressions
- Hallucinatory experiences
- Distress
- Psychological Trauma
Without proper treatment methods and sometimes timely treatments, these conditions and symptoms can persist to become permanent in effect. The progression of the symptoms mentioned above can be devastating to a healthy life. Hence, it can be a cause of lifestyle deterioration.
CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)
Keep in mind that people often use CBT as a common name/label for a wide range of sub-types of cognitive and behavioral therapies. Despite that, CBT has its own techniques and procedures to help patients manage tinnitus. CBT involves treating the thought process and behavior of a person when they experience tinnitus.
Changes to their behavioral pattern and thought process (negative against tinnitus noises and discomforting symptoms) help people re-evaluate the way they perceive tinnitus. This method focuses on harmful patterns of thinking and behavior. Hence, coping with anxiety, stress, and depression becomes easier when a patient is able to perform a neutral thought process upon experiencing tinnitus sounds from time to time.
What Other Therapies Do They Perform?
It’s all about finding the right psychotherapist when you are looking to treat tinnitus through cognitive and behavioral therapies. It is also valid to assume that the psychotherapists from slightly different fields of study offer varying services and therapies concerning cognitive therapies to enhance your thinking and mindfulness in dealing with tinnitus.
Some therapies aim to focus on different aspects and processes of stress development through tinnitus. Now, we use stress as an umbrella to refer to all the psychological issues that tinnitus can cause. So, let’s get down to the effective therapy types that psychotherapists provide to help patients cope with tinnitus and its symptoms. Look at a few common therapies that psychotherapists perform for mental issues that arise due to tinnitus and other health conditions.
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Supportive Therapy
Psychotherapist for Your Tinnitus: Conclusion
Do you want to see a psychotherapist with the best knowledge, training, and practice in treating and managing tinnitus? Stephen Geller Katz, LCSW-R, is a highly skilled specialist in treating mental health and sound disorders such as tinnitus.
Get in touch with the Tinnitus Cognitive Center™ to schedule a free online consultation with Dr. Katz for effective treatment options and strategies to manage your tinnitus.
Tinnitus Cognitive Center™
Stephen Geller Katz, LCSW-R
19 West 34th Street
Penthouse Floor
New York, NY 10001
Call today for an online consultation
646-213-2321
Reference Links:
https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/psychotherapy
https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/interpersonal-therapy
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14992020500147557
https://bmccomplementmedtherapies.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6882-12-235