Two birds with one stone.–Addressing depressive symptoms, emotional tension and worry improves tinnitus-related distress and affective pain perceptions in patients with chronic tinnitus

BACKGROUND: Psychological factors link the co-occurrence of tinnitus-related distress and pain perceptions in patients with chronic tinnitus. OBJECTIVE: This study examines, if treatment-related changes in these factors ameliorate both tinnitus-related distress and pain perceptions in a sample of patients with chronic tinnitus. METHODS: N = 1238 patients with chronic tinnitus provided pre- and post-treatment ratings of tinnitus-related distress and affective or sensory pain perceptions alongside measures of depressive symptoms and perceived stress. Treatment comprised an intensive tinnitus-specific multimodal treatment program. Using serial indirect-effects analyses, we examined association patterns between baseline values and change rates of those variables that were found to respond to treatment. RESULTS: Small effect sizes emerged for changes in tinnitus-related distress, affective (but not sensory) pain perceptions, depressive symptoms, emotional tension and worry. At pre- or post-treatment respectively, baseline values and change rates intercorrelated. Across timepoints, (1) baseline tinnitus-related distress and affective pain perceptions were positively associated with improvements in tinnitus-related distress, affective pain perceptions and depressive symptoms. (2) Baseline depressive symptoms or emotional tension mediated positive associations between baseline tinnitus-related distress and improvement in affective pain perceptions. (3) Change in depressive symptoms mediated the effect of baseline tinnitus-related distress on change in affective pain perceptions–partly through associated change in emotional tension or worry. Mood-independent aspects of emotional tension were negatively associated with improvement in affective pain perceptions. CONCLUSIONS: Depressive symptoms, emotional tension and worry emerge as key predictors of treatment response and transdiagnostic treatment targets for alleviating tinnitus-related distress and functionally associated affective pain perceptions.