My Psychologist's Approach on Habituation of Reaction: What Do You Think?

So my psychologist says that anxiety for anything is more effectively treated when someome is exposed to the whole thing. For example, a person with anxiety for spiders can most effectively get rid of the anxiety by holding a tarantula staight away, instead of starting with for instance a drawing of a spider. Once the person sees that the spider is harmless and nothing has happened, the psychological effect is larger. Of course, this all must happen under supervision.

She thinks that masking the sound 24/7 will only slow down the process of habituation of reaction. In her vision it is best to just hear it fully and find that the sound is harmless, every now and then. Expose myself to the sound. Maybe it's a good idea. But I doubt it will help me, since my tinnitus is different every day. What is your opinion on this?

 

It's well known that 100% masking of the sound will make it impossible to habituate. So she is right on that point.

 

That may also be the best way to trigger a death by heart attack.

 

Hi @RudyL90,
Thats why masking tinnitus should be set below your tinnitus sound so you and your brain stills hear it and focuses on the lower sound you have chosen to mask it (not drowned the tinnitus sound )
This helps you habituate with distressing tinnitus through early onset till you feel you can cope with out masking.
Masking through the night set below your tinnitus helps using a free standing unit or pillow speakers and not ear phones or headphones
.....lots of love glynis

 

I'd think it depends on the kind of phobia we're talking about, and how entrenched it is in the person's brain.

Handling a large spider may help extinguish the assumptions that led to arachnophobia in the first place (for a person who's never been bitten by a spider, for example), while for, say, people with fear of heights shoving them to the edge of a cliff would likely trigger a full blown panic attack, and strengthen the stimulus-reaction neural pathways that trigger the anxiety. I vaguely remember reading in an article somewhere that, usually, the recommended approach is gradual exposure.

Also, keep in mind that for nearly every phobia the sufferer can elect to avoid the object of the fear, while with tinnitus it can be ever-present for some people. So not sure how exposure treatment for phobias applies to tinnitus habituation.

 

What if you have a fear of therapists?

 

My tinnitus is unmaskable in the one ear. Doesn't that mean it should be easier for me to habituate to that sound by that theory? Well the opposite is the case.

 

Easier if your tinnitus is lower. Mine was masked, this was when it first started by crickets only, on full volume and nothing else. So, as I will keep saying depends on loudness, otherwise how could you adjust, you'd be driven insane. Everyday, I wanted to end it. So, I'd say it's for people with livable tinnitus who adjust.

This was the video I used- I could still hear my tinnitus over it though....

Night time Forest Sounds 11 Hours - Forest at...

 

Also depends a lot on what caused your t
And how much anxiety plays a role in the T volume
Just hearing T all day isn't going to make it easier to forget ... It all sounds so easy for the therapists