Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the cognitive aspects of patients who suffer from tinnitus. The subjects were 120 patients with constant tinnitus, who visited the otolaryngology department of Samsung Medical Center. To examine their features of tinnitus as well as emotional and cognitive features, the following scales were administered; basic questionnaire for tinnitus features and dysfunctional beliefs, Tinnitus Handicap Inventory(THI), Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale(MHLCS), Beck Depression Inventory(BDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory(STAI-S), somatization subscale(SOM) of Symptom Checklist 90-revised, Anxious Thoughts and Tendencies(AT&T). The results showed that the severity of depression correlated positively with the loudness of tinnitus, dysfunctional beliefs, somatization, anxiety, social and emotional handicap due to tinnitus, locus of control of chance and external except for the duration of tinnitus and locus of control of internal. Analysis of the difference of the highly depressed group from the lowly depressed group supports the above results. This result was maintained after controlling for the loudness and duration of tinnitus, and suggests other aspects except that tinnitus features affect depression. The results of hierarchical regression analysis for the severity of depression explored tinnitus loudness, dysfunctional beliefs of tinnitus, emotional handicap due to tinnitus which were important variables. In addition, the results of path analysis showed that dysfunctional belief mediates or moderates the loudness of tinnitus and emotional handicap mediates or moderates dysfunctional belief for the severity of depression. This results suggest that cognitive aspects play an important role in physical diseases, and for psychological adjustment we need to manage cognitive aspects.