A Question Regarding the Nature of Tinnitus and Mindfulness

If I am not mindful of my tinnitus can I still suffer? That is to say, is tinnitus still a bothersome condition if I am not worrying about it? This is confusing to me because I can forget about my tinnitus when I have ambient noise around me (even though I can still potentially hear my T in this level of noise, I can forget about it), but in a quiet room, I can often find myself being uncomfortable with my tinnitus before my negative thoughts arise from thinking about it. In that sense, the thoughts come after the discomfort. My thoughts do not influence the level of discomfort in this case.

The Jastreboff model mentions that the discomfort is the result of an automatic process, which probably accounts for why i'm uncomfortable before I'm aware that I'm uncomfortable. But why can I potentially be comfortable when I am in a room with ambient noise. Do I not have the same brain and same autonomic process occurring in both scenarios? Is this similar to pain? When I think of pain - I think of one feeling bad before a thought occurs. Mindfulness cannot lessen pain to any degree, though it can help one cope. ...And yet, there are millions of people with tinnitus that are not too bothered by it - which makes me think its association to how pain bothers people prior to thought is not a good comparison.

Very confusing stuff.

 

I am in an exact state as you are. In the beginning I was anxious and miserable all the time, but then I habituated to a similar level where you are. Regarding mindfulness, I have read a lot about it and tried it a couple of times, but I haven't yet really started to practice it every day. I know I should and eventually I will.

 

Regarding mindfulness, Dr. Hubbard has written quite a bit in his success story how he used the technique to help his own T. You may want to check it out or simply ask him questions.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/how-cbt-helped-me-live-again-dr-hubbards-story.4608/