Tinnitus and psychological and cognitive behavioral therapies in Japan

Many difficulties with chronic tinnitus are caused by the inability to divert attention from tinnitus. When tinnitus causes anxiety in patients, attention is directed to tinnitus, and anxiety causes a stress response. When this situation is conditioned, tinnitus itself is threatening. However, no stress response develops when attention is removed from tinnitus. It poses a threat to tinnitus itself. The effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy for tinnitus has been previously shown. Patients will realize that tinnitus is perceived and does not cause discomfort and gain insight that they can deal with tinnitus by controlling their attention. When tinnitus can be dealt by oneself in combination with sound therapy or tinnitus retraining therapy, further hospital visits are often unnecessary.