Personality Traits of Tinnitus Sufferers

[New Guy]

I've been reading "Take Control of Your Tinnitus - Here's How" by Neil G. Baumen. It's an engaging read. I like the straightforward approach of the book.

Page 76 got me thinking. Baumen refers to the personality traits found in a a high percentage of tinnitus sufferers. In an effort not to get in trouble with the publisher I'll leave that statement there but say I see a correlation of what Baumen says in his book with what I see on this site and my own personality.

 

[Steve]

I very much dislike the term but see this paper for a link between tinnitus and "neuroticism"

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022399913003358

I don't think I like to be deemed as neurotic, but I do think that many people who are in the suffering group have these tendencies.

You have to remove those with a very clear link to a condition where the noise is to a very loud level, because there is a line of loudness where personal tendency towards a behaviour trait becomes nigh on irrelevant.

 

[SugarMagnolia]

Just what we need: people telling us the sounds aren't real and we're causing our own suffering. Classic victim-blaming.

I put a phone to my ear during a conference call, not realizing it was set on speaker phone, and the feedback from the facilitator having equipment difficulties blasted my ear.

I didn't imagine the conference call.
I didn't imagine the feedback blasting my ear.
And I didn't imagine the ringing which has never stopped.

The only thing this says about my personality is that I'm not good with new-fangled telephones.

Don't let anybody tell you that your T is a flaw in your personality.
Don't let anybody tell you you're causing your own suffering.

This sounds like a way to shame us into hiding our suffering.

 

[Bill Bauer]

see this paper for a link between tinnitus and "neuroticism"

According to one online test I took, I am "99% neurotic."

In any case, my Myers-Briggs personality type is INFP.

Don't let anybody tell you that your T is a flaw in your personality.

Some people don't have as big of a reaction to noises, being uncomfortable, possible threats as I do...

 

[Steve]

Don't let anybody tell you that your T is a flaw in your personality.
Don't let anybody tell you you're causing your own suffering.

I totally agree, I hugely dislike the inference that it's all down to the individual causing their own suffering. It's potentially damaging. Thankfully the people who would say that are dinosaurs, all of the researchers I meet are more progressive in understanding that some things help and some things don't.

What we can see from just a read of the forum is that there are also a huge number of different causes and that personality could never be behind them all. It certainly is not a "cure" solution, I can change the way I think about tinnitus but it does not get rid of my tinnitus.

Do you think that once your wound had healed (presume you had a diagnosis) that a part of tinnitus staying with you was personality related? I can't prove it but I think that my obsessiveness with the tinnitus noise I first got played a part in it becoming permanent. A part that is, I do not think it can explain the whole.

The personality side could be an element in the tinnitus noise becoming "stuck" in the brain. If we look at the model of prediction, where the brain hears the noise and it predicts tinnitus sound as the new silence, then a personality that attends to the tinnitus consciously seems more likely to become a chronic patient.

According to one online test I took, I am "99% neurotic."

In any case, my Myers-Briggs personality type is INFP.

I haven't tested mine before. Sometimes with these things you wonder if it's helpful to know or if it can be more of a hindrance. Having had a quick look for the test online, how do you make sure the "personality test" isn't a covert site to indoctrinate you into scientology?

 

[Bill Bauer]

Having had a quick look for the test online, how do you make sure the "personality test" isn't a covert site to indoctrinate you into scientology?

I tried choosing other answers, and the "neuroticism" score got lower. When I answered truthfully, it ended up being 99%. As for Myers-Briggs, I remember taking multiple tests at different websites and I always get INFP...

 

[Steve]

I tried choosing other answers, and the "neuroticism" score got lower. When I answered truthfully, it ended up being 99%. As for Myers-Briggs, I remember taking multiple tests at different websites and I always get INFP...

In that case I will try it out. However if Tom Cruise turns up and whisks me away to some underground facility for brainwashing I am laying the blame squarely on you...

 

[Bill Bauer]

In that case I will try it out.

I don't remember the website that allowed me to take the test. I had been taking those tests about 10 years ago.

So anything is possible.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Actually, here one good (non-scientology!) source

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

 

[Steve]

This is veering off-topic, but I'm ENTJ apparently. Quite marginally on some of it. I consider myself an introverted extravert, not sure this sort of test would pick that up.

 

[Jazzer]

I very much dislike the term but see this paper for a link between tinnitus and "neuroticism"

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022399913003358

I don't think I like to be deemed as neurotic, but I do think that many people who are in the suffering group have these tendencies.

You have to remove those with a very clear link to a condition where the noise is to a very loud level, because there is a line of loudness where personal tendency towards a behaviour trait becomes nigh on irrelevant.

@Steve - absolutely right.
To jump to a conclusion of neuroticism is
obviously both ridiculous and demeaning.

 

[Jazzer]

@Steve - I've always regarded myself as
being a bit 'opti-pessmic....!?!?"

 

[SugarMagnolia]

Do you think that once your wound had healed (presume you had a diagnosis) that a part of tinnitus staying with you was personality related? I can't prove it but I think that my obsessiveness with the tinnitus noise I first got played a part in it becoming permanent. A part that is, I do not think it can explain the whole.

I had OCD prior to my injury, but I am absolutely certain it is unrelated to my T. (My OCD is about one very specific thing.) The phone was set to speaker phone and it was pressed against my ear when the feedback came through. I never imagined the ringing would be permanent. I didn't see a doctor for about two months because I expected it to go away on its own. When I finally saw the doctor (a GP), she was unconcerned, so I made an effort to ignore the noise, figuring that it would eventually fade. It never did. In fact, I had become so inured to it, that I put myself in a position to receive a second high-pitched noise which has now brought on symptoms of H that I never had before.

So, despite my OCD, I don't fit the profile of someone "obsessed" with the noise. My ear was damaged by that feedback. Maybe if I had actually been obsessed with it, I would have gone to Urgent Care right away and gotten a prescription that might have helped me. Instead I nonchalantly took a "wait and see" approach.

 

[SugarMagnolia]

Some people don't have as big of a reaction to noises, being uncomfortable, possible threats as I do...

But those people will have a big reaction to some other thing that doesn't bother you. I think I read on another thread that you have a high tolerance for solitude (please correct me if I'm mistaken). Well, some people can't stand to be alone and they get anxiety when they are alone and quiet. Everyone's got something that they can't stand.

 

[New Guy]

SugarMagnoilia, I'm not trying to point a finger at anybody and start laughing. I apologize if it seemed that way.

Through life when I've had troubles I hole up and think on it until I get a solution while seeing a doctor(s) for positive feedback that it's not as bad as I think. Doctors are usually the ones telling me I'm over focusing and give it time and things will get better.

This has always worked for me but with T I'm not having so much luck and I'm having a very hard time with it, as are many on this website. I admit I was stressed when I got T but I don't see stress as the cause of my T.

For what it's worth I'm an introvert as well and a thinker not a doer.

 

[SugarMagnolia]

Hi @NewGuy. I don't think you're laughing at anyone, so no apology needed. We're all this this boat together.

I was concerned about the book you're reading if it relates T to personality types. Anyone can get T. For some of us, it's just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It's only natural for you to be stressed about it. It's a stressful thing. I am quite stressed myself over a change in my ear after two years of business-as-usual T.

Based on the title of the book you're reading, it sounds like you're already thinking about your T being permanent (since you won't need to take control of it if it goes away). I can totally relate to that. When mine didn't go away, I started thinking about how I was going to cope. It's not a bad way to think. If you know you can cope with it IF it doesn't go away, then you will feel less stressed and less out-of-control.

So by all means formulate a plan. Perhaps the doctor will give you good news and you won't need your plan. But until then, having a plan will make you feel less out-of-control.

You can get some advice here on TT about how different people cope with T. I'm a fan of background music. But you will put together your own plan based on what works for you.

 

[Tinniger]

I once read that 50% of all members of a tinnitus society actually suffer from psychosomatic illness. The problem is: Nobody can say who belongs to this 50%.....
Similar things could be said about headaches, back pain or abdominal pain...
Not long ago, all patients with peptic ulcers had: Stress. Now they almost all have an infection with helicobacter pylori...the stress diagnosis is history.
Probably this nonsense of linking tinnitus with stress will also be abandoned in the future.....

 

[New Guy]

@SugarMagnolia The book wasn't about personality types and T. It was just one paragraph of the book but it rang very true in my case.

My T came on in one day and hasn't shown any sign of letting up though it has been changing more and more into crickets for longer and longer. Like most the first trip to the ENT sucked and I've got an appointment next week with a different one. I'm sure the results will be similar but I'm hoping for more (any) compassion and ideas on which direction to head.

I'm hoping for any positive sign. When you're as low as I've been researching how to cope is the only relief I can find besides falling asleep or my noise generator. I'm probably my own worse enemy but I don't want to sit here going it will go away any day now when I don't know if it will and finding relief is my top priority.

What changed in your ear after 2 years? I hope it's a good change.

 

[Hazel]

I took Myers-Briggs once, apparently it's one of the few personality tests that actually holds some significance. You can take the official one here, but there's a fee of 20 USD or so: https://www.mbtionline.com/

My result at the time was:

INTP
Seek to develop logical explanations for everything that interests them. Theoretical and abstract, interested more in ideas than in social interaction. Quiet, contained, flexible, and adaptable. Have unusual ability to focus in depth to solve problems in their area of interest. Skeptical, sometimes critical, always analytical.

Basically makes me sound like a robot...

 

[SugarMagnolia]

@NewGuy. Unfortunately, not a good change. I got a blast of a high-pitched sound near my ear and now it has all the symptoms of hyperacusis. Like you, I am now in research-mode. I vacillate between doing research and freaking out. (Sometimes I do them at the same time. )

My strategy for keeping anxiety in check is distraction. I usually choose tasks that don't require much brain power, but keep me busy. Tasks like cleaning your home, washing your car, or organizing your stuff might allow you to achieve moments of distraction. Plus you'll be more tired at bedtime.

 

[Bill Bauer]

My result at the time was:

INTP

I took the test again today, and I got INTP instead of INFP.

 

[Bill Bauer]

sure this sort of test would pick that up.

It looks like the test did pick it up, as the result is that "you have a marginal or no preference for extroversion over introversion (3%)"...

 

[New Guy]

Sorry to hear that SugarMagnolia. My dog barked a few times today and I think I got my first spike. Whoopee! I was hoping hyperacusis was something you got when first exposed to T and then it slowly went away. I'm hoping that theory holds true. You've got a very memorable picture for your profile.

 

[New Guy]

I've taken the Myers Briggs one once but I took the Disk model more times and I've had more exposure to it. I fall on the introverted side right on the line between task and people focus. I'm pretty sure when push comes to shove I have more of a people focus, but in an introverted sort of way.

 

[foliefortuna]

I took a personality test at an actual psychologist's office. It was so awful lol. It said I was very sociable and gregarious and would market my appeal by being friendly, entertaining, and seductive. It also said I was dependent on other people, insecure, and would latch myself onto people so they could help me. Their words, not mine. At least it did not say I was insane.

 

[New Guy]

Can you cut the report in half and throw out the bottom part? If you're sociable and gregarious how's your job in sales going?

 

[MBH]

I've taken Myers-Briggs a couple times, ESTP when younger, and now when older I'm ISTP. It changed when I got married. I think it is a fun thing to do, it is a tool for team building, so that we in a large office know where people are coming from. From my ESTP scale I'm strong in numbers. I can see how the book related tinnitus to personality types, but if you see Myers Briggs there are many different types, so I think they should not relate a certain personality that causes tinnitus. But I happen to get the feeling MED world tends to think it is brought by stress/personality, l think it is easier for them.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I took the Disk model more times

I will check it out. Thanks.

 

[SugarMagnolia]

You've got a very memorable picture for your profile.

Thank you. I'm blessed to be so photogenic.

 

[DirM]

I thinks it's safe to say T cuts across all personality types.

However I think the same volume of T will affect some more than others. For example I loved loved loved silence and being alone (extreme introvert). T required a huge rewrite for me there - I am still introverted but I had to rethink how I react to all noises, not just T, which gets to the next trait.

I think controlling personalities and perfectionists are also more affected (which is also me). With T you are no longer in control at all, and if you can't let that up, that leads to frustration, sadness, etc. And perfectionists who were in stellar health for years will find it a severe blow to their self image and ability to cope.

This is why we read about people with relatively loud T who basically shrug it off and those with the same level having extreme difficulties. I believe T requires a psychological rewrite for some to cope. Or to put it another way, some personalities have to come to an acceptance of both the condition and the Self which will not come naturally to them.