Fear & Tinnitus

 

In a previous video, we talked about the languaging around tinnitus, and so this languaging around tinnitus is a very important way that we can use our brain to change our brain.

And so what we're really trying to do, when I'm working with tinnitus patients and helping them shift tinnitus from bothersome to non-bothersome, is we are looking at the link between tinnitus and fear.

And I guess the ultimate goal is to unlock, or to unlink, tinnitus from fear so that tinnitus can go where it belongs, or where other benign body sensations simply go: into the background, or through our habituation process, into our subconscious, and we're no longer aware of it.

So again, you know, I use my hands to really describe this, but on the first day that we experience tinnitus and experience it as bothersome, there's a link between tinnitus and fear.

Okay?

And as we've spoken about, that link between tinnitus and fear is what keeps the lens locked and loaded.

And then the stories that get wrapped around it, like:

"Oh my God, what is this?"

"Oh my God, maybe I have a brain tumor."

"God, this is all my fault for the music I listened to when I was a kid."

"I never should have, you know, been around those fireworks or gone to that concert."

We can sometimes blame ourselves for causing it.

You know, we think about, "Oh my God, this could mean I'm going to lose my hearing."

"Oh my God, and what if this gets worse and I have to leave my job because I just can't concentrate?"

And so these are all stories. These are all false stories.

But they seem to get wrapped very, very tightly around tinnitus.

And this wrapping of these stories around tinnitus is the problem.

You know, again, tinnitus in and of itself is benign.

But the stories that get wrapped around it—these horror stories—are what keep the mind's eye, or the lens, locked and loaded on tinnitus and keep the lens stuck.

Now, our lens, you know, the mind's eye, should be able to open up, open up its aperture to take in what's going on, but also be able to zoom in on things that are credible dangers so that we can really focus on it and make sure that we can find a way to keep ourselves safe.

But what happens when we misunderstand a body sensation like tinnitus and put it into the fear category?

The mind gets locked and loaded, and nothing else is going on.

Your brain is just locked and loaded on tinnitus because of this link that it's made between tinnitus and fear.

And so the process, over time, the process for the person with bothersome tinnitus, is to find ways to unlink these two so that tinnitus, in fact, can float to the background.

And one way that I have found to be helpful has been making tinnitus boring to the brain.

I know this sounds like an impossible feat, but everybody is 100% capable of using their brain to change their brain.

And by getting, you know, feeling less anxious about tinnitus, by getting accurate information as to what tinnitus is and what it isn't, and by finding ways to reduce stress in our lives, this is kind of the trifecta, or the triad, that is going to set the scene for the person being able to unlink tinnitus from fear.

Of course, accurate information is key.

And through these videos, I'm trying to present all the facts on tinnitus so that, you know, the search can be over and we can start to see tinnitus for what it is: this benign body sensation that the brain thinks is important to pay attention to, when in reality the brain is safe and it can put it into the background, where it puts other benign body sensations.

And so one way that we can do this is use our prefrontal cortex.

Okay?

So this—I touch my forehead here because behind the forehead is the prefrontal cortex.

And this is where our executive functioning lives.

This is the part of the brain that makes us different from all other animals in the kingdom.

This is our conscious mind.

This is our purposeful—you know, this is the part of the brain where the magic happens.

This is where our reasoning is.

This is where our ability to stop and think before acting is.

This is where we place our attention, where we choose it to go, rather than where our mind just goes unbeknownst to us.

This is the part of the brain that's in charge of compassion.

And so this is also the part of the brain that can help us to manage emotions that might seem out of control.

So we can regulate our emotions using this part of the brain.

So what's happening is, by filling this part of the brain with accurate information, when the amygdala—which we've spoken about in other chapters—when the fear center of the brain, that subconscious, the amygdala, that little almond-shaped area in the limbic system, when it starts to overfire and trip that fight-or-flight response, that autonomic nervous system response, this part of the brain can say:

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. There's no reason to get upset."

And send down these downregulating neuropeptides to the limbic system, to the amygdala specifically, to basically say, "There's no need to worry. It's okay. Calm down."

I think of it almost like a fire engine hose, you know, pouring water onto the amygdala to make it chill out when it might be overreacting or misunderstanding a benign body sensation like tinnitus.

And so how do we do that?

How do we connect our conscious mind with this subconscious part of our brain that just seems to act in the background without us even being aware of it?

Well, we have to use language.

We all think, you know, the word—you know, our language is such a foundational part of our mind and our brain and our behavior.

And so when we start paying attention to where is my mind, what are the stories that I'm wrapping around tinnitus, we can start to get some clues as to what areas need to be modified so that the fear around tinnitus can start to dissipate.

And so while I understand that words like, "Oh, horrible," or, "You know, this is the worst thing that's ever happened to me," or, "Oh, this is unbearable, terrible, horrible," whatever the euphemism or word that you're using to describe tinnitus, I get it.

Now, tinnitus is devastating to people with bothersome tinnitus, I should say. It can be very life-changing.

However, when we are in the process of helping the brain to unlink tinnitus from fear, we need to harness our ability to use our words to bring down the temperature, or to pour that water onto the amygdala.

And we do that by taking a deep breath and starting to use words that will eventually convince the brain that there is nothing to fear.

And one way I'd like to describe tinnitus is, for example, as a paper tiger.

When I say paper tiger, I mean that, you know, tinnitus looks scary, like a tiger, but it's made of paper.

And so when tinnitus is present, we can catch ourselves going into that common reaction of:

"Oh God, this is horrible. It's so loud right now. I shouldn't even bother to go to work today."

You know, whatever the story comes up, we can catch ourselves in that moment and say:

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's not going to get me where I want to go here. That's not a helpful way for me to be speaking to myself about tinnitus. In fact, it's a false way to speak about tinnitus."

Instead, I'm just going to say:

"All right. There's tinnitus, and it's just a paper tiger. It's just a paper tiger."

Or, you know, you could come up with something like—when you, let's say, wake up in the morning and you check for tinnitus and boom, it's there—you can pause for a moment.

And instead of going into the usual reaction of, "Oh God, this is going to be a horrible day," which none of us obviously can predict, instead we can say:

"You know what? I'm feeling tinnitus right now. It's bothersome in this moment, but I can handle it. And I'm going to do things that I can put in place to help me reduce stress."

And maybe yes, maybe no. We'll see how the day goes.

Maybe I'll just go and take a shower, or sip my cup of coffee, or have a healthy breakfast, or take a walk.

You know, when we create that space, we can come up with very creative ways to reduce stress rather than create stress.

By using words like "horrible," "awful," "nobody can help me," "there's no cure," "this is terrible," whatever those words are, they are inflaming the brain.

They are inflaming the brain, or they're creating a situation where the lens gets locked and loaded and, you know, travels around almost exclusively finding tinnitus because it needs—you know, it fears it, so it needs to keep its attention on it.

And what we're trying to practice, what we're trying to do, is unlink that fear by making tinnitus boring for the brain.

And so I encourage you to come up with your own words.

You know, you wake up in the morning, you experience tinnitus.

Instead of going into that old reaction, you can just say:

"Oh, there's that paper tiger. I don't have to like it, but it's not going to stop me from, you know, from going forward with the day."

Or you could say something like:

"Oh yeah, it's just a benign body sensation."

And so by doing that, you can see the difference between saying the word "terrible," which, you know, literally just kind of creates that anxiety feeling, that tenseness, or that tightening of our strings, so to speak.

Instead, using calming words can also kind of reassociate tinnitus and edge it away from the erroneous fear that's been wrapped around it.

And over time, tinnitus then becomes boring to the brain.

And what happens when a benign body sensation is boring to the brain?

Well, it knows what to do with those body sensations.

It simply puts it into the background.

And so I really encourage you to get on the path of listening very closely to the languaging around tinnitus so that you can start making adjustments, so that fear can be disassociated with tinnitus, and tinnitus, this benign body sensation, can start to move where it belongs: into the background.