effectiveness of hypnotherapy in treating depression, anxiety and sleep disturbance caused by subjective tinnitus

ABSTRACT

Patients with tinnitus encounter many problems, including depression, anxiety, insomnia, increased sensitivity to sound, and negativity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of hypnotherapy on the depression, anxiety, and insomnia caused by tinnitus. This study was a pilot research with a pretest-posttest and control design. The statistical population included individuals who suffered from tinnitus and its associated symptoms. Twenty patients with tinnitus were selected through available sampling. The subjects were divided randomly into two experimental and control groups. Both groups completed the Beck Depression Inventory, Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index in both pretest and post-test phases. Only the experimental group received 10 sessions of hypnotherapy. In this study, independent and dependent t-tests were used to obtain the data. The two groups were similar in terms of tinnitus severity and age range. The results of independent and dependent t-tests at p=0.05 level in all three variables of depression, anxiety, and insomnia showed a significant difference between the scores of pretest and post-test as well as the post-test scores of control and experimental groups. The results indicated the effectiveness and usefulness of hypnotherapy in the reduction and treatment of the depression, anxiety, and insomnia caused by tinnitus in the experimental group.