Mindfulness Based Tinnitus Stress Reduction
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Mindfulness Based Tinnitus Stress Reduction
Mindfulness is a special kind of awareness: it is a moment-to-moment awareness of our experience without clinging to the judgments our mind naturally makes. It frees you to be more present in your immediate experience, so that you can wake up to the wonder of the one life you are given. In the coming weeks, we will be exploring different ways to come out of "automatic pilot" mode by paying close attention to whatever occurs in the immediate moment.
Others have found that cultivating this practice has helped reduce the negative impact of tinnitus on their lives. The more open you can be to whatever you are experiencing at any moment, the more awake, alive, happy, and balanced you can be. This is the essence of the journey we will be taking together.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has proven to be an effective way to help people manage the distress caused by living with tinnitus. This therapy is based on a simple idea: it looks at how our thoughts, actions, and feelings interact with each other. It offers helpful strategies for when these connections are out of balance. The Mindfulness Based Tinnitus Stress Reduction course successfully incorporates cognitive behavioral techniques with great success. Accurate education and understanding of what tinnitus is and what it is not, is a key strategy for reducing tinnitus related anxiety and regaining balance.
Jennifer Gans, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist specializing in the psychological impact of deafness and hearing on well-being. She is on the Board of Directors of the Tinnitus Practitioners Association (TPA), a non-profit professional organization dedicated to providing tinnitus and sound sensitivity care.
Years ago, patients started coming to Dr. Gans who were frustrated with persistent tinnitus that was unresponsive to traditional treatments. She introduced her patients to mindfulness as a novel way to manage tinnitus after learning about the work of Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and his success with Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), a program he developed in 1979 for managing chronic pain and other illness. She went on to receive her MBSR professional training from Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and Dr. Saki Santorelli of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center as a participant in the "Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in Mind-Body Medicine" training program. She went on to receive advanced teacher training and supervision and has been teaching mindfulness practices to individuals and groups of students since. Learn more...
Dr. Gans' online course Mindfulness Based Tinnitus Stress Reduction (also known as I-MBTSR) has received some public and acedemic praise on the tinnitus research landscape. The success of I-MBTSR can be read in an article by Dr. Gans in Tinnitus Today (August, 2021).
There are cognitive behavioral elements of deep breathing, yoga, relaxation and meditation throughout the course to reframe your relationship with tinnitus.
You will learn techniques that will empower you to maintain balance and comfort in your everyday life.
This 8-week course teaches participants to bring conscious attention to whatever happens to be in their field of awareness at any given moment. Why? Simply because it is already here – we might as well experience it.
The present moment is where life actually happens. The past is already behind us, and we can only make our best guess about what might or might not happen in the future. Therefore, it is only in the present moment where we have the freedom to choose to respond in new, different, and more adaptive ways.