Barriers to Habituation

[cullenbohannon]

Hello Dr.Nagler I hope all is well. I vaguely remember us talking about barriers to habituation before, I can't remember for sure though. I was wondering what you think the big obstacles that people face when trying to habituate are?

 

[Dr. Nagler]

I vaguely remember us talking about barriers to habituation before, I can't remember for sure though. I was wondering what you think the big obstacles that people face when trying to habituate are?

As I see it, there are external barriers to habituation (barriers that we directly control) and internal barriers to habituation (barriers that we at best indirectly control).

The external barriers cause us to unnecessarily tend to our tinnitus. Examples would be keeping tinnitus diaries, spending too much time on tinnitus support sites, and talking to our spouses or loved ones about our tinnitus any more than once or twice a week.

The internal barriers are those emotional and "fight-or flight" factors that can best be addressed indirectly (e.g., through CBT, TRT, and the like.)

Dr. Stephen Nagler