Are You Suffering From Any of These Symptoms as a Result of Tinnitus? Call Today for a Consultation.
■ Mild to severe anxiety
■ Depression
■ Insomnia
■ Negative thinking
■ Triggered fight or flight
■ Crying spells
■ Hopelessness
■ Ringing in the ears
■ Suicidal thoughts
Are you growing more isolated? Do you feel like life will never be the same? Are you refraining from activities that you enjoy? Are you fearful of losing your job? Do you find that your thoughts tend to be negative?
If you answered yes to 3 or more of these questions or symptoms, then we can help. You may be a candidate for Tinnitus Cognitive Retraining Therapy, or TCRT.
With over 20 years of clinical experience, Stephen Geller Katz, LCSW-R developed Tinnitus Cognitive Retraining Therapy and founded the Tinnitus Cognitive Center™ in response to the growing number of Tinnitus sufferers coming to his private practice.
He discovered that by helping people to retrain and reinterpret the thoughts around their Tinnitus, anxiety and depression symptoms began to improve. But even more important so did the Tinnitus.
Can a therapist treat my tinnitus? People with tinnitus often hear hissing, buzzing, clicking, or ringing sounds in their ears. Contrary to popular belief, however, tinnitus is not a disease itself. Instead, it is a symptom associated with a psychological condition or ear nerve problems. Ten percent of the United States population suffers from tinnitus every year. Sometimes, the issue only lasts for a few minutes. The ringing or buzzing sounds often appear in both or one ear, either soft or excessively loud.
Severe tinnitus can be quite a nuisance for people as it can cause problems working, sleeping, or hearing. Surprisingly, tinnitus can be caused by a blockage in the ears and may not last more than ten to twelve seconds. However, it can also arise from serious conditions, which may include:
Determining the issue that caused tinnitus to develop in the first place is vital for treating it properly. A qualified doctor can determine the underlying cause by addressing the problem through surgery or medications.
Believe it or not, many individuals do not have any identifiable cause for their condition, which experts usually call idiopathic tinnitus. So far, idiopathic tinnitus doesn’t have a cure, but there are certain remedies to lower its severity.
Is it Possible to Manage Tinnitus by Yourself?
While it is always advisable to consult with an expert, there are certain things you can do to keep the ringing sounds at bay by yourself. Here are some of the most common ones:
Tinnitus Sound Therapy
Treating the underlying cause behind tinnitus is the most effective way to tackle the condition. Certain sound therapies may help distract you from tinnitus symptoms like buzzing or ringing sounds if you do not suffer from hearing loss.
Hearing Aids May Help
In most cases, tinnitus develops due to hearing loss. When an individual loses their ability to hear, their brain goes through various changes in how it perceives and processes different sounds. In cases like these, using a hearing aid could come in handy.
For those wondering, hearing aids are small devices that use an amplifier, speaker, and microphone to increase the volume of outside noises. The gadget can help your brain understand new and effective ways of processing sounds.
It can be especially helpful for people with tinnitus as improvement in their hearing could reduce the ringing sounds caused by the condition. A reputable survey noted that around sixty percent of individuals suffering from tinnitus noticed varying levels of improvement with the help of hearing aids.
Tinnitus Patients May Benefit from Sound Masking Gadgets
Sound masking devices can create pleasant noises to keep the unpleasant tinnitus sounds at bay. Numerous gadgets like tabletop sound machines and small gadgets can help tinnitus patients with their condition. Sound masking gadgets can play:
Can a Therapist Treat my Tinnitus? It’s Best to Consult a Pro
While the tips mentioned above can be quite effective, it is still best to consult a professional to choose the right action. That’s where Stephen Katz and the Tinnitus Cognitive Center™ can help you. Get in touch with us to book an appointment, and our team of experts will evaluate your condition and suggest the right treatment options, ensuring you can go about your days without any stress.
Tinnitus Cognitive Center™ Stephen Geller Katz, LCSW-R 646-213-2321
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
Despite having no cure, there are ways to help cope using psychotherapy for tinnitus. The Tinnitus Cognitive Center under Stephen Geller Katz, LCSW-R provides a treatment that helps sufferers turn to normalcy.
What psychotherapy treatments are available for Tinnitus?
There are well-backed therapies to help deal with the symptoms of tinnitus. These therapies aim to help individuals cope with their issues as the audial nerve and cilia are irreparable once they are damaged. Psychotherapy in general aims to produce behavioral changes and overcome problems in desired ways.
The most common psychotherapy treatments for Tinnitus are cognitive behavioral therapy (CB) and cognitive retraining therapy (CRT). Tinnitus retraining therapy is also promising. These therapies focus on the thought processes people use to deal with the condition.
What are the side effects of Tinnitus?
Tinnitus creates a deepening cycle of issues. The phantom noises created in the absence of a frequency results in anxiety and a flight or fight response that in turn triggers anxiety and even depression. Sufferers of the condition experience a wide range of side effects ranging from frustration to lack of sleep and clinical depression.
Studies linked tinnitus to a direct fear of job loss. Individual tend to remain closed about their condition and, in an increasingly technical world, this impacts their work.
The phantom noises appear to have no source. This can result in sound-related phobias in addition to anxiety and depression.
How do psychotherapy treatments work for Tinnitus?
Psychotherapy treatments such as Tinnitus Cognitive Therapy target the thought process related to dealing with tinnitus symptoms. The phantom sounds related to tinnitus are handled by a person’s evaluations, rational and irrational thoughts, and beliefs which in turn triggers a response. This response is often negative as the brain considers the sounds to be dangerous.
Tinnitus Cognitive Therapy targets beliefs, evaluations, and rational or irrational thoughts related to the condition. Intermediate thoughts are linked to core beliefs and produce an automatic reaction. The Korean Journal of Audiology and a wide range of researchers found that focusing on psychotherapy mitigates the effects of tinnitus.
Are there other options help with my Tinnitus symptoms?
There are drugs available which can reduce the symptoms of tinnitus, but they may not always work and tend to have side effects. Alprazolam is not guaranteed to help cope with your issues but lead to drowsiness and nausea. The drug can be habit-forming as well.
White noise machines and other noise masking devices help with symptoms. They only work as long as they are used and some are not entirely proven and do not provide a way to avoid the cycle of anxiety related to tinnitus.
There is no evidence that alternative medicines work to treat tinnitus. Acupuncture, hypnosis, vitamins, and supplements have no proof of working to reduce symptoms.
Psychotherapy therapies are proven to work, produce long-term results, and create ways to avoid negative thought processes that worsen symptoms. These solutions generate strategies that work.
What is Cognitive Retraining Therapy?
Tinnitus related Cognitive Retraining Therapy is psychotherapy that aims to redirect or rescript negative thoughts to redefine how you deal with tinnitus. This helps to reduce anxiety and stop the cycle that can lead to clinical depression.
The Tinnitus Cognitive Center offers Cognitive Retraining therapy. Schedule an appointment today if you are interested in learning about the use of psychotherapy for tinnitus or our services.
Riedle, David et al. The influence of tinnitus acceptance on the quality of life and psychological distress in patients with chronic tinnitus. (2015, 17 October). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4900501/
Tinnitus Cognitive Center™
Stephen Geller Katz, LCSW-R 19 West 34th Street Penthouse Floor New York, NY 10001
