Mental Health Stigma

In my research (searching and reading) on tinnitus & hyperacusis, various mental health conditions are listed as possible causes.

I think it is not only possible but likely that many of us suffer from tinnitus & hyperacusis which have no physical cause, but I see a lot of posts here railing against doctors who suggest it might be so. I already have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, so I completely understand the aversion to accepting that you might suffer from a mental illness and the concern about dealing with the stigma that comes with that.

But I did accept it and I am getting treatment that has improved my quality of life.

I think it is entirely possible that treating underlying mental health issues will help with a lot of cases of tinnitus & hyperacusis if people can get past the stigma and look into it.

 

Mental Health becomes a large problem with tinnitus and Hyperacusis.
We joined in Mental Health Week and @Markku did a amazing video for it and we posted it on Twitter and FB.
Hope this can be a yearly campaign.
Love glynis x

 

I think that sometimes it goes the other way - T & H can become problems related to MH issues. H in particular is often attributed to PTSD or bipolar disorder.

 

I think that most people acquire tinnitus because of physical injury to the ear/brain.....noise exposure, ototoxic drugs, menieres disease, etc. My own T and H resulted from sudden, profound hearing loss likely caused by a virus. Many tinnitus sufferers can pass standard hearing tests but probably have undetectable hearing loss nonetheless. Hyperacusis hurts and can cause fear of sound because we don't like pain.
There are some members here who only hear their tinnitus when they make an effort to listen to it in a quiet room and yet, they experience much anxiety about tinnitus. I will agree that there are some people who hear tinnitus because of anxiety but I think most people hear tinnitus because of ear/brain injury.
By the way, kudos to you for accepting your diagnosis and treating your bipolar disorder.

 

Maybe I am more in the minority than I realized. I don't have a specific incident that triggered either T or H and spikes correlate with mood swings; they are always worse when I am down and are diminished when I am hypomanic (because that is when I think I am perfect but other people think ).

 

I have had tinnitus my entire life (as far as I can recall), so I am unaware of any specific cause. As for mental health, yes, I have my issues. I think the relationship between tinnitus and mental health is bidirectional, in both causation and exacerbation. And for the "chicken and the egg question" nature of that relationship, the answer will be different for different people.

 

My tinnitus and hyperacusis occurred because of a physical event called sensorineural hearing loss or nerve deafness. Ironically, the only effective treatment I received came from a psychologist.