What’s the problem?
It’s normal to worry about tinnitus, listening for it and then concentrating on the sound. This creates circular behaviours where you become distressed that you can hear the tinnitus sound and the increasing anxiety then reduces your ability to cope. The less you feel able to cope, the more dominant the tinnitus becomes. Sound has an instinctive and psychological effect on us. Some people feel hopeless and struggle to cope with everyday life and activities, often withdrawing from friends, family and social situations where they worry their tinnitus will be made worse.
How does Mindfulness help?
Mindfulness has been shown to be one of the most effective techniques to help people cope better with tinnitus.
Over time, most people get used to the tinnitus noise without being constantly distressed by it. This process is called habituation. Mindfulness will help you learn that your tinnitus noise is not a threat and that your body doesn’t need to spring into action to defend you. It provides techniques and tools to help you stop struggling against tinnitus and instead help you start to habituate it into your everyday life.
How does it work?
Mindfulness is not a cure for tinnitus but it will help to make it less threatening to you by reducing the amount of attention you give your tinnitus and how it makes you feel, and by offering you ways to manage it better.
Mindfulness makes you aware of the present: of how your thoughts are influencing your behaviour and feelings and how you then respond to them. It's a type of meditation but separate from any ‘hippy fads’ that might spring to mind. It's a psychological technique that can be taught and used in everyday life to positively change your behaviours and improve your mental wellbeing.
You start by becoming aware of ordinary activities like breathing, eating, and walking. You then use these skills to change how you respond to tinnitus. As you learn the techniques and become more practiced, you can use Mindfulness any time you like, in any situation.
It doesn't require any special equipment, just patience and practice.