Metacognitive Therapy in Patients with Tinnitus: a Single Group Study

AbstractTinnitus is often in comorbidity with anxiety and depression, and several authors have proposed a reduced efficiency of the top-down executive control in its perception. This single-group study describes a novel application of the metacognitive therapy (MCT), which works on a top-down engagement of proactive attentional control mechanisms on a group of patients with tinnitus, to see its impact on the perception of tinnitus and its anxiety and depression correlates. Eight metacognitive therapy group-sessions were proposed to a group of nine patients, as part of a regional project conducted at the University General Hospital “Paolo Giaccone” of Palermo. The last was a follow-up session, proposed three months after the seventh. The Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were administered during the first, the seventh and the follow-up group session. The distress perce ived by tinnitus (THI), lowered at a tolerable level at re-test, by maintaining this result up to 3 months after the conclusion of the experience (F(2) = 13.1, p = 0.001; effect size = 0.731). Distress scores (HADS) (F(2) = 8.3, p = 0.016; effect size = 0.462) and anxiety s ub-scores (F(2) = 12.06, p = 0.001; effect size = 0.670) improved at the end of the experience, and the benefits stayed stable over the course of the follow-up, while depression scores did not change (p = 0.549). The use of MCT appears to offe...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research