Depression and Tinnitus

Many people who experience hearing sounds like that of a ringing in the ears are probably suffering from tinnitus. Tinnitus, meaning “ringing” in Latin, is an ear disorder. It is not in itself considered as a disease rather, it is a symptom to an underlying condition. Being exposed to such sounds and sensations would usually keep us awake at night or be bothered by it even when we are at work or study.

Research shows that most people that are known to have tinnitus are not depressed or seriously bothered by it. There are cases however where people who are injured or greatly affected by such disorder are often found to be suffering from major depressive situations. With this in mind, questions come out. Some would probably ask: Is tinnitus the one factor that is causing depression? If you find yourself staying up all night due to hearing sounds in your ear which can only be heard by you would probably be quite frustrating and would thus lead to depression. Studies show that tinnitus does not cause depression. It is considered to be just a stress or that can trigger a psychiatric episode in a vulnerable person.

Other could also pose the question the other way around. Does depression cause tinnitus? Doctors have studied such possibility and concluded a negative answer. Depression does not cause for a person to have tinnitus. However, if a person already has tinnitus, although it is barely noticeable, it can become more intrusive when such person begins to pay attention to it.

Suffering from tinnitus, be it caused by depression or not, really is stressful and frustrating. Nonetheless, there are studies made to find our more about such cure for tinnitus. There are many different various ways of treating tinnitus specially aimed at people who complain bitterly about it as a cause of their depression. Opting for treatment with tricyclic antidepressant drugs helps such patients suffering from insomnia. Although the drugs have its certain end results on the patients, they are found to be more effective due to its placebo effect. Patients tend to believe that they are healed just because they have had taken medicine. Somehow it is all in the state of mind.

Other options for treatment are more focused on counseling, relaxation techniques, and other advices on ways to cope up with living with tinnitus. As per example, there is a treatment referred to as tinnitus retraining therapy or TRT. This procedure aims to help and train the brain to learn to ignore the tinnitus. In this case, the tinnitus is not stopped. It is just a means of controlling your sensations and diverting your attention. In that way, the person suffering from tinnitus would be less bothered by it. This therapy comes with a regular frequency of counseling sessions. This is done so as to be able to practice such control and be cured by not focusing on the effects of the tinnitus.

There is indeed a relationship or connection between depression and tinnitus. But being affected by both can still be cured with the correct effective tinnitus treatments.