Imagine you’re waiting for your favorite band to come on stage at a concert. Seconds feel like hours as the anticipation builds. Now imagine experiencing that same feeling of time slowing down, but not for a concert – for tinnitus. Tinnitus is a condition where individuals hear ringing or buzzing sounds in their ears, sometimes non-stop. However, our understanding of how time is perceived by those with tinnitus is limited and scattered. This analysis aims to shed light on this topic by exploring the diverse ways humans perceive time and how it relates to achieving goals. Time perception is like walking through a hallway – we can only see what’s directly in front of us (the present moment) and what we’ve just passed (the recent past). But our sense of time is mostly focused on the future and can be represented as a mental timeline of our past experiences. For tinnitus sufferers, this creates a constant tension between wanting the ringing to stop and the need to focus on other aspects of their lives. Our analysis suggests that accepting and engaging with the present moment plays a vital role in building long-term self-confidence for patients. By shifting attention away from worries about tinnitus and rewarding themselves with positive social interactions, sufferers can overcome the feeling of being trapped by their condition. This study opens up new avenues for research, exploring the different changes in time perception that occur during the journey towards acceptance and exploring behaviors and emotions associated with this ‘time paradox’. To learn more about this fascinating psychological framework on time perception in chronic tinnitus patients, check out the full article!

Although disabling tinnitus is a chronic auditory phantom sensation, current knowledge on time perception (i.e., subjective time) in sufferers is limited and unsystematic. This theoretical analysis provides a first approach to this topic, highlighting the heterogeneity of time perception in humans as shown in various research areas. This heterogeneity is inherently related to goal attainment. Our immediate perception of time is restricted to present moment and recent past, whereas our sense of time is mostly future-oriented and represented as our past in a mental time line. The heterogeneity of time translates into a tension between anticipated changes one wants to see happen and full commitment that is required to goal attainment. Tinnitus sufferers are intensely aware of this tension in their self-perception. Their most compelling desire is that they no longer perceive tinnitus, but they get closer to this goal only by avoiding to put all their thoughts into it. Our analysis provides new perspectives on acceptance of tinnitus in relation to this time paradox. Building on the Tolerance model and the role of self-awareness in time perception, we contend that the main way for patients to gain long-term self-confidence is to engage in the present moment. Attention to this attitude is obscured in chronic sufferers by worries and ruminations associated with the ongoing presence of tinnitus. We provide arguments that time perception is a social perception, emphasizing the role of rewarding interactions in helping sufferers to overcome the feeling of being prevented from living in the moment. In the course of improvement towards acceptance, different changes in time perception are hypothesized that promote individuals’ disengagement from unattainable goal (i.e., tinnitus suppression). A framework for future research is proposed, which distinguishes individuals’ behaviors and associated emotions in relation to the time paradox.

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