Metacognitive Therapy in Patients with Tinnitus: a Single Group Study

Abstract

Tinnitus 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 perceived 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 sub-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 offer promise in reducing the perception of the tinnitus and the anxiety of participants and reduces the significance of annoying thinking. Further studies are necessary to test its efficacy and replicability in a controlled trial.