Tinnitus is still a bit of a mystery, and the causes are hard to grasp.
It can occur in one or both ears, occasionally or all the time, become stronger and weaker. It can be a ringing noise, a high-pitched squeal or a low-pitched roar, a whooshing sound or a rhythmic pulsing.
But however it occurs, tinnitus has a huge impact on the people who suffer from it – about 15-20% of adults, the cause is not always clear.
Most of the time (90% of cases), tinnitus goes together with age-related hearing loss. Some other causes of tinnitus are ear injuries (from loud noises for example), infections, blockages, circulatory issues, issues like anaemia, diabetes or thyroid issues, but also psychosocial distress and stress.
There are also a number of potential psychological or subconscious causes for tinnitus, like not wanting to hear, not wanting to listen, either to someone else or to your own inner voice.
How does sound enter the ear?
This animation from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association shows how sound travels through the ear to the pea-sized cochlea, where the hair cells turn the sound waves into electrical signals that the brain can then interpret.
There are – quite literally – a lot of moving parts in this tiny structure.
If any of those tiny parts are blocked or broken, or do not get the correct nutrition to rebuild, the signal that used to come into the brain cannot be properly interpreted by the brain any more.
Put differently, the noises cannot be effectively filtered like they used to.
And the mind may over- or undercompensate.
If the cause is not physical, but psychological, the mind may do the same, but for different reasons.
Luckily, we can help the mind back on track with hypnotherapy and coaching.
In my hypnosis group session, 80% of participants reported an improvement. Of those, half reported a clear reduction after the session, and 25% a total removal of their tinnitus – within 20 minutes.
This is with a one-size fits-all-approach for diverse causes.
In an individual approach with bespoke sessions, I can help my clients much better to reduce the noise and help them understand and eliminate the causes.
Get in touch for an initial free consultation.
The following is an excerpt from my full article on mymindbodyspiritcollective.com
As one of the many psychological approaches, hypnotherapy can treat tinnitus in various ways.
Hypnotherapy has an impact on your autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for all unconscious processes in your body and mind. In a session, you go into a state of relaxation, a different state of consciousness. This is nothing strange though. You already experience this daily. When you are doing any activities that require no conscious effort like driving or any automatic habit, you are already in a different state. A hypnotherapist does nothing else but put you into that state to then give you positive suggestions.
Self hypnosis or group hypnosis sessions in general have been found to reduce stress and improve the coping with stress. This can have a great impact on your overall wellbeing. But hypnotherapy can do more than just alleviate the symptoms of stress.
In my most recent group hypnosis, 80% of participants reported at least some improvement in hearing. Of those, half reported a clear reduction after the session, and 25% a total reduction of their ear noises to zero – within just 30 minutes.
This is with a one-size fits-all-approach. Individual sessions can be much more effective.
In individual sessions, I use my full hypnotherapy toolset to help clients not only to relax and reduce stress, but also focus attention elsewhere than the noise. They will also perceive their tinnitus differently. There may also be events that need to be worked through to let go of the ringing. If the cause is completely psychological, the noise may even go away completely or not disturb the person anymore.
I work in a client-centered way. That means, in individual sessions, I use an approach that includes their beliefs, perceptions and thoughts, rather than having a strict script or approach. If the client is very down-to-earth I will use a different approach than for a spiritual client, and each session is different.
The plus of hypnotherapy to help with tinnitus as opposed to other psychological tools is that the change occurs much faster. It is also totally subconscious, which allows clients to focus on what really matters.
While all the caveats of tinnitus treatment are of course valid for hypnotherapy as well, it is a great option in how tinnitus can be treated.
Book a free call or sign up for a tinnitus workshop to see how I can help you.
Anne had had tinnitus that was dictating her life. She had hearing aids to reduce the noisy frequencies, she avoided social occasions and dreaded talking to people unexpectedly when she didn’t have the hearing aids in.
There was no physical reason or event she should have tinnitus. But she did.
We had several sessions together, starting with a straightforward short hypnotherapy session.
This brought her some relief from a noise of 9 to a 5 (on a scale of 1-10), but with the second session, in which we found the cause and removed it, and a third session, we got it down to a 2, where it remained.
Anne was over the moon when she told me in session 3 that she had forgotten to take her hearing aids with her several times now, and had completely lost that anxiety she had felt every time she was supposed to meet up with others, go for a dinner or to a party. She was like a new person!
The causes and ways that tinnitus shows up are as multi-faceted as the possible solutions.
A free 15 minute consultation allows you to discuss your specific case and find out how I can help you.