Background: The available cross-sectional and retrospective evidence does not provide a clear answer to the question whether the multiple psychological problems and disturbances found in patients with chronic decompensated tinnitus are cause or consequence of the tinnitus. The present research took a longitudinal approach to examine this question.
Method: Psychopathological symptoms, personality, socio-demographical variables and otological features were assessed in 48 patients which had suffered from tinnitus for a period of no longer than 4 weeks. Six months after first assessment 92 % of the original sample (n = 44) were re-examined. 34 of these patients displayed chronic tinnitus. Univariate and multiple regression analyses were conducted in order to identify variables at first assessment which predicted tinnitus distress at second assessment for the 34 patients with chronic tinnitus.
Results: Tinnitus attributed sleep disturbance, anxiousness, and life satisfaction, each assessed at first investigation, independently predicted tinnitus distress at second assessment six months later. These three variables together predicted 56 % of the variance of tinnitus distress at second assessment.
Conclusions: Our results support the model that the symptom tinnitus may develop on the basis of an enhanced psychophysiological tension and become a condensational core of preexisting psychological distress as a facilitatory process. Our results suggest that early psychotherapeutic interventions in patients at risk may prevent decompensation.