Follow-Up: State of Mind

[cullenbohannon]

Hello Dr.Gans No apologies necessary I realize things happen anyway hope your doing well, what i meant by state of mind is sometimes you see people who have not gotten better after years, and think that is they have not gotten better after all this time then nothing can be done. Can this state of mind stop someone from habituating. I understand that louder tinnitus is probably harder to habituate and if it continuously got worse it can affect habituation as well. Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated as always.

 

[Dr. Gans]

Again, a great question. Like any habit, the longer the habit is in place, the more conditioned we are to head down the same path. The same is true for thoughts. The more often we believe a certain thought, the more etched in our brain the thought becomes. It becomes the "nee normal" and every time that thought is "practiced" it just grows stronger. (like a muscle, the more it is used the stronger it becomes). So when you have a particular thought, like "My tinnitus is never going to go away---I have tried everything" and you think this thought time and again, the mind grows stronger around the thought making it harder to alter. That is why it is important to practice being flexible and adaptive with our thoughts. With habituation, the mind needs space to think new more adaptive thoughts around tinnitus. By opening up the possibility for change and possibility, the mind creates new pathways (such as "I can heal and change my perspective on tinnitus") that can open us up to new ways of seeing things and better promotes habituation to tinnitus.
Warmly,
Jennifer