Personality Traits, Perceived Stress, and Tinnitus-Related Distress in Patients With Chronic Tinnitus: Support for a Vulnerability-Stress Model

Biehl, Raphael; Boecking, Benjamin; Brüeggemann, Petra; Große, Romina; Mazurek, Birgit

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03093

Cited by 37 publications

(40 citation statements)

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“…In addition to the current measures, we propose the inclusion of an additional layers of psychological phenotypization putatively influencing pathological dynamics 60 . This is especially true for personality [61][62][63] , which was never specifically studied in the context of tinnitus and cognition. Cognitive tests are furthermore naturally linked to neuropsychology, which implies the use of respective neuroscientific methods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of tinnitus distress on cognition

Neff

Simões

Psatha

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Tinnitus is the chronic perception of a phantom sound with different levels of related distress. Past research has elucidated interactions of tinnitus distress with audiological, affective and further clinical variables. The influence of tinnitus distress on cognition is underinvestigated. Our study aims at investigating specific influences of tinnitus distress and further associated predictors on cognition in a cohort of n = 146 out-ward clinical tinnitus patients. Age, educational level, hearing loss, Tinnitus Questionnaire (TQ) score, tinnitus duration, speech in noise (SIN), stress, anxiety and depression, and psychological well-being were included as predictors of a machine learning regression approach (elastic net) in three models with scores of a multiple choice vocabulary test (MWT-B), or two trail-making tests (TMT-A and TMT-B), as dependent variables. TQ scores predicted lower MWT-B scores and higher TMT-B test completion time. Stress, emotional, and psychological variables were not found to be relevant predictors in all models with the exception of small positive influences of SIN and depression on TMT-B. Effect sizes were small to medium for all models and predictors. Results are indicative of specific influence of tinnitus distress on cognitive performance, especially on general or crystallized intelligence and executive functions. More research is needed at the delicate intersection of tinnitus distress and cognitive skills needed in daily functioning.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of tinnitus distress on cognition

Neff

Simões

Psatha

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Thus, the specific variance of emotional tension (as a dimension of “perceived stress”) emerges as important when conceptualizing and addressing tinnitus-related distress and pain symptomatology. Importantly, any such “perceived stress” conceptualization ought to occur within psychological frameworks that consider psychological vulnerability-stress interactions [ 95 ], personality dimensions [ 96 ], and individual constructions of meaning; not seemingly “external” factors such as “workload” [ 97 , 98 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two birds with one stone.–Addressing depressive symptoms, emotional tension and worry improves tinnitus-related distress and affective pain perceptions in patients with chronic tinnitus

et al. 2021

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Background Psychological factors link the co-occurrence of tinnitus-related distress and pain perceptions in patients with chronic tinnitus. Objective This study examines, if treatment-related changes in these factors ameliorate both tinnitus-related distress and pain perceptions in a sample of patients with chronic tinnitus. Methods N = 1238 patients with chronic tinnitus provided pre- and post-treatment ratings of tinnitus-related distress and affective or sensory pain perceptions alongside measures of depressive symptoms and perceived stress. Treatment comprised an intensive tinnitus-specific multimodal treatment program. Using serial indirect-effects analyses, we examined association patterns between baseline values and change rates of those variables that were found to respond to treatment. Results Small effect sizes emerged for changes in tinnitus-related distress, affective (but not sensory) pain perceptions, depressive symptoms, emotional tension and worry. At pre- or post-treatment respectively, baseline values and change rates intercorrelated. Across timepoints, (1) baseline tinnitus-related distress and affective pain perceptions were positively associated with improvements in tinnitus-related distress, affective pain perceptions and depressive symptoms. (2) Baseline depressive symptoms or emotional tension mediated positive associations between baseline tinnitus-related distress and improvement in affective pain perceptions. (3) Change in depressive symptoms mediated the effect of baseline tinnitus-related distress on change in affective pain perceptions–partly through associated change in emotional tension or worry. Mood-independent aspects of emotional tension were negatively associated with improvement in affective pain perceptions. Conclusions Depressive symptoms, emotional tension and worry emerge as key predictors of treatment response and transdiagnostic treatment targets for alleviating tinnitus-related distress and functionally associated affective pain perceptions.

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“…The subscales ‘Worries’ (sample item: ‘You feel frustrated’), ‘Tension’ (sample item: ‘You feel tensed’), ‘Joy’ (sample item: ‘You feel you are doing things you really like’), and ‘Demands’ (sample item: ‘You have too many things to do’) can be calculated. As we were interested in the participants’ overall stress experience (for a similar approach, see Biehl, Boecking, Brueggemann, Grosse, & Mazurek, 2019 ), we collapsed all items into an overall stress score with a Cronbach alpha of .93.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%