Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a psychological therapy that has grown out of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). It allows you to acknowledge your feelings and concerns about tinnitus, without letting them take over.

ACT can feel counter-intuitive at first, but acceptance doesn't mean ignoring your tinnitus noise. It means making the conscious decision to recognise the things that you can control and accept that there are some things you can't. You learn to switch your effort and attention to the emotions, feelings and behaviours that you do have control over.

Ruminating and focusing on tinnitus can absorb a lot of time and energy. The vicious cycle of listening for the tinnitus noise, hearing it, worrying about hearing it, then going back to listening for it, and so on, is exhausting. In other cases, struggling to avoid listening to your tinnitus also takes huge effort. These behaviours stop you from getting on with the things you want and need to do.

It’s a bit like a tug of war: you grasp the rope tightly and strain to hold your ground, but the other team keeps pulling you back to where you were, time and time again. You use all your energy struggling to remain still, not moving backwards or forwards.

ACT asks us to let go of the rope completely.

You are accepting who you are now, rather than focusing on the person who you used to be. ACT encourages you to acknowledge your thoughts and feelings about tinnitus, without then creating a negatively repeating spiral.

It's not as easy as it sounds. You will have invested a great deal of energy and time struggling against tinnitus in the way you’re used to: it can feel like you are actually doing something, despite the fact that this struggle exhausts you, so it’s easy to feel like you have to keep going.

There are four main concepts in an Acceptance mindset:

1) Paying attention

2) Staying in the present

3) Doing it on purpose

4) Being kind to yourself

This is where Oto comes in. Our therapy will help you develop an Acceptance mindset step by step. ACT takes strength, purpose and courage from you. You’re trying something new: letting go of the struggle goes against everything you think you ought to do. We'll guide you through and, with time, you’ll be able to accept that you have tinnitus and commit to ensuring it no longer takes over.