EMDR in treating tinnitus

This article examines the use of EMDR to deal with traumatic experiences associated with serious incapacitating Tinnitus Disorder. Mr. V is my client since past two years, had seeked help for his Depression and anxiety which had crippled him to the extent he couldn’t get out of his bed and go to work. Showed tremendous improvement in the sessions, where he felt that he was absolutely fine now and doesn’t need more sessions. We had done EMDR sessions (Standard Protocol) in 2013 on Anxiety and Depression. We also did many resource building excercises at this time. In month of September 2015,he visited me again with unusual symptoms of Ringing in both his ears. After visiting many ENT doctors, they all came to the conclusion that it’s more a psychological symptom than a physical one. With this client lot of initial Stablization resource work was done. I also did CIPOS,as he would get very disoriented with loud ringing sounds in both the ears.Frazers Dissociative table really helped in understanding different parts of his Emotional Personality. Attachment with both parents was taken into consideration .Sleep journal and Yoga along with Deep Breathing excercises helped him deal with his physical symptoms and emotional regulation. When the processing work (EMDR) started with parts stemming from childhood ,we noticed a considerable change in diminishing of his ear ringing . The Hypothesis, in this case was, Tinnitus was manifestation of deep rooted anxiety and childhood issues. The usefulness of attachment theory for a better comprehension of the dysfunctional interpersonal patterns that can arise between family members is discussed. EMDR with other resource protocols facilitated recall of forgotten memories about his hidden fears and anxiety connected with his parental fights, with related emotions of sadness and anger, creating insight into how these past events linked to his current physiological symptom of Tinnitus.

Conference

English

Seema Hingorrany

Hingorrany, S. (2017, April). EMDR in treating tinnitus. In EMDR & illness/medical issues/somatisation /chronic pain/cancer (Derek Farrell, Chair). Presentation at the 3rd EMDR Asia International Conference, Shanghai, China