Tinnitus: clinical experience of the psychosomatic connection

Figures & data

Table 1 TCI: description of temperament and character traits

Temperament traits

• Novelty seeking: tendency towards exploration, intense activation, and excitability

• Harm avoidance: tendency towards avoidance of aversive stimuli

• Reward dependence: tendency toward an intense response to social reward

• Persistence: perseverance in spite of fatigue and frustration

Character traits

• Self-directedness: strong-will individuals, capable of controlling, regulating and adapting their behavior in order to best reach their goals

• Cooperativeness: individuals who are tolerant, empathic, compassionate, and supportive of others

• Self-transcendence: relevant to individuals who conceive themselves as integral parts of the universe as a whole, a “unitary conscience” in which everything is part of a whole; this perspective can be described as acceptance, identification, or spiritual unity with nature and its origins

Note: Data from Tarsitani et al.³⁸

Table 2 Frequencies of psychiatric disorders among sexes

Ψ or Ψ–	Male	Female	Total	χ^2 Test
Ψ	64 (42.38%)	50 (56.82%)	114 (47.70%)	4.643; degrees of freedom: 1; P=0.031
Ψ–	87 (57.62%)	38 (43.18%)	125 (52.30%)
Total	151	88	239

Notes: Ψ, patients with psychiatric comorbidity; Ψ–, patients without psychiatric comorbidity.

Table 3 Screening tests

Test	Mean	Standard deviation
VRS	17.95	7.48
GSI	0.76	0.49
THI	46.98	27.83

Abbreviations: GSI, General Symptomatic Index; THI, Tinnitus Handicap Inventory; VRS, Stress-Related Vulnerability Scale.

Table 4 Psychopathological dimensions of the whole sample of patients (SCL 90-R)

SCL90-R dimensions	Mean	Standard deviation
Somatization	10.85	7.21
Obsessive-compulsive	10.03	7.11
Sensitivity	5.30	5.40
Depression	12.40	9.02
Anxiety	8.51	6.20
Hostility	3.93	3.08
Phobic anxiety	2.36	3.07
Paranoid ideation	4.20	3.85
Psychoticism	4.94	5.23

Abbreviation: SCL90-r, The Symptom Checklist – 90 – Revised.

Table 5 Psychopathological dimensions: psychiatric (Ψ) versus non-psychiatric (Ψ–) groups

SCL 90-R	Ψ–		Ψ		Comparisons (ANOVA)
	Mean	Standard deviation	Mean	Standard deviation	Ψ/Ψ–	P-value
Somatization	6.99	5.024	14.72	7.544	2.105866	<0.001
Obsessive-compulsive	5.33	4.362	13.80	7.601	2.589118	<0.001
Sensitivity	2.91	2.923	7.96	6.037	2.735395	<0.001
Depression	6.00	4.572	18.02	8.255	3.003333	<0.001
Anxiety	4.31	3.074	12.34	6.173	2.863109	<0.001
Hostility	2.44	2.098	5.40	3.402	2.213115	<0.001
Phobic anxiety	1.10	1.842	3.54	3.464	3.218182	<0.001
Paranoid ideation	2.12	2.219	5.85	3.895	2.759434	<0.001
Psychoticism	1.88	2.522	7.44	5.214	3.957447	<0.001

Notes: Ψ, patients with psychiatric comorbidity; Ψ-, patients without psychiatric comorbidity.

Abbreviations: ANOVA, analysis of variance; SCL 90-R, The symptom checklist - 90 - Revised.

Table 6 TCI: temperament and character dimensions of the whole sample of patients

	Mean	Normal range
HA	18.089	11.9–23.34
RD	14.10	10.88–21.34
NS	16.91	13.6–26.68
P	4.37	2.72–5.336
SD	30.60	14.96–29.35
C	29.96	14.28–28.01
ST	14.40	11.22–22.01

Abbreviations: C, cooperativeness; HA, harm avoidance; NS, novelty seeking; P, persistence; RD, reward dependence; SD, self directiveness; ST, self-transcendence; TCI, Temperament and Character Inventory.

Table 7 TCI: psychiatric (Ψ) versus non-psychiatric (Ψ–) group

TCI comparisons (ANOVA)	Ψ–	Ψ	P-value
	Mean	Mean
HA	15.12	20.89	<0.001
RD	14.18	14.03	NS
NS	16.85	16.97	NS
P	4.62	4.13	NS
SD	33.39	27.97	<0.001
C	30.91	29.07	NS
ST	14.06	14.71	Ns

Notes: Ψ, patients with psychiatric comorbidity; Ψ–, patients without psychiatric comorbidity.

Abbreviations: ANOVA, analysis of variance; C, cooperativeness; HA, harm avoidance; NS, novelty seeking; P, persistence; RD, reward dependence; SD, self directiveness; ST, self-transcendence; TCI, Temperament and Character Inventory.

Table 8 Correlation between screening measures in the whole sample of patients

Correlations	VRS	GSI	THI
VRS
Pearson correlation	1	0.800(**)	0.636(**)
Significance (2-tailed)		P<0.001	P<0.001
GSI
Pearson correlation	0.800(**)	1	0.553(**)
Significance (2-tailed)	P<0.001		P<0.001
THI
Pearson correlation	0.636(**)	0.553(**)	1
Significance (2-tailed)	P<0.001	P<0.001

Note:

** P<0.01.

Abbreviations: GSI, General Symptomatic Index; THI, Tinnitus Handicap Inventory; VRS, Stress-Related Vulnerability Scale.

Table 9 Correlation between psychopathological dimensions and screening in the whole sample of patients

Correlation SCL-90 R dimension	VRS	GSI	THI
Somatization
Pearson correlation	0.588(**)	0.760(**)	0.421(**)
Significance (2-tailed)	P<0.001	P<0.001	P<0.001
Obsessive-compulsive
Pearson correlation	0.703(**)	0.869(**)	0.482(**)
Significance (2-tailed)	P<0.001	P<0.001	P<0.001
Sensitivity
Pearson correlation	0.576(**)	0.796(**)	0.370(**)
Significance (2-tailed)	P<0.001	P<0.001	P<0.001
Depression
Pearson correlation	0.793(**)	0.935(**)	0.565(**)
Significance (2-tailed)	P<0.001	P<0.001	P<0.001
Anxiety
Pearson correlation	0.726(**)	0.872(**)	0.536(**)
Significance (2-tailed)	P<0.001	P<0.001	P<0.001
Hostility
Pearson correlation	0.600(**)	0.689(**)	0.380(**)
Significance (2-tailed)	P<0.001	P<0.001	P<0.001
Phobic anxiety
Pearson correlation	0.443(**)	0.597(**)	0.398(**)
Significance (2-tailed)	P<0.001	P<0.001	P<0.001
Paranoid ideation
Pearson correlation	0.562(**)	0.738(**)	0.366(**)
Significance (2-tailed)	P<0.001	P<0.001	P<0.001
Psychoticism
Pearson correlation	0.614(**)	0.851(**)	0.425(**)
Significance (2-tailed)	P<0.001	P<0.001	P<0.001

Note:

** P<0.01.

Abbreviations: SCL-90 R, Symptom Check List; GSI, General Symptomatic Index; THI, Tinnitus Handicap Inventory; VRS, Stress-Related Vulnerability Scale.

Table 10 Correlation between TCI dimension and screening measures in the whole sample of patients

TCI correlation	VRS	GSI	THI
HA
Pearson correlation	0.567(**)	0.624(**)	0.340(**)
Significance (2-tailed)	P<0.001	P<0.001	P<0.001
RD
Pearson correlation	0.015	0.121	0.014
Significance (2-tailed)	0.866	0.162	0.875
NS
Pearson correlation	0.045	0.145	−0.012
Significance (2-tailed)	0.602	0.093	0.895
P
Pearson correlation	−0.144	−0.088	−0.034
Significance (2-tailed)	0.095	0.31	0.697
SD
Pearson correlation	−0.561(**)	−0.646(**)	−0.245(**)
Significance (2-tailed)	P<0.001	P<0.001	0.004
C
Pearson correlation	−0.216(*)	−0.109	−0.087
Significance (2-tailed)	0.012	0.206	0.319
ST
Pearson correlation	0.054	0.233(**)	0.11
Significance (2-tailed)	0.529	0.006	0.207

Notes:

* P<0.05

** P<0.01.

Abbreviations: C, cooperativeness; GSI, General Symptomatic Index; HA, harm avoidance; NS, novelty seeking; P, persistence; RD, reward dependence; SD, self directiveness; ST, self-transcendence; TCI, Temperament and Character Inventory; THI, Tinnitus Handicap Inventory; VRS, Stress-Related Vulnerability Scale.

TarsitaniLBiondiM[Development and validation of the VRS, a rating scale for rapid stress assessment] Sviluppo e validazione della scala VRS (Valutazione Rapida dello Stress)Med Psicosom19993163177 Italian

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