I was struck this morning by an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about tinnitus – a “phantom” ringing in the ears that results from no external prompt and that can nearly drive people over the brink. The brain is confused and by what, scientists have yet to discover.
One predominant treatment is called masking therapy, whereby you block out the ringing with another noise (white noise, television) until the brain learns to ignore the ringing.
“The goal is to retrain the brain to ignore the disruptive noise, the same way it stops noticing highway traffic or the neighbor’s barking dog.”
However, some people make no headway with this treatment. Lack of improvement can result from obsession over the ringing or when sufferers get stonewalled by the limbic system which, among other things, controls our emotional response. To quote the article’s expert:
“If you hate dogs or hate your neighbor, that barking sound is not going to fade into the background.”
Isn’t that amazing?!? In these cases where tinnitus is idiopathic and no physical medical treatment is available, we can impede recovery by:
- Obsessing on the problem
- Overlaying “negative” emotions
I’m all for calling a spade a spade. If life sucks, name it. Admitting you have a problem is the first step in most kinds of recovery – be it addiction, hearing loss, unemployment or spiritual emptiness. Apparently, though, there’s a lot to be said for letting go and making peace with the thorns in our sides. Only then might we be able to remove them.
What about you? How have you noticed that an obsession with what’s wrong actually impedes your forward progress?* Can you identify the direct and tangential emotions involved?
Please post your thoughts below!
I’d like to clarify an important distinction here. Most of us actually obsess over symptoms or get wrapped up in complaint. I would guess that 75% of my clients come to coaching unable to truly identify the problem they are facing – the fundamental root of their struggle or the real reason for any goal that they have set. The problem must be clearly named first in order to ensure successful forward movement. Doing this (sometimes time-heavy) work of identifying the problem is different than obsessing!
