The Comorbidity of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms in Tinnitus Sufferers: A Network Analysis

Objective: Sufferers of tinnitus, especially of the prolonged type, frequently suffer from comorbid depression and anxiety. From the perspective of the network model, this comorbidity is thought to be an interacting system of these two symptoms. In our study, we conducted a network analysis of depression and anxiety comorbidity in tinnitus sufferers, aiming to identify the central and bridge symptoms and make informed suggestions for clinical interventions and psychotherapy. Method: A total of 566 tinnitus sufferers were enrolled in our study. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item Questionnaire (GAD-7) were selected to evaluate depression and anxiety symptoms, respectively, followed by network analysis to construct the interacting networks. Results: The findings identified six edges of strongest regularized partial correlations in this network. Of these, three were depression symptoms and three were anxiety symptoms. The anxiety symptoms “Unable to control worry” and “Relaxation difficulty” and the depression symptom “Feeling depressed or hopeless” had the highest expected influence centrality. The analysis results also revealed three bridge symptoms: “Afraid something awful might happen”, “Feeling of worthlessness”, and “Trouble concentrating”. As for “Suicidal ideation”, the direct relations between this symptom and “Afraid something awful might happen” and “Feeling depressed or hopeless” were the strongest. Conclusions: The central and bridge symptoms of the interacting network of depression and anxiety symptoms in tinnitus sufferers can be considered a significant transdiagnostic intervention target for the management of this comorbidity. In particular, clinical prevention and psychotherapy should be implemented, targeting the symptoms that have the strongest associations with suicidal ideation.