It’s a chicken-or-egg situation. You have some ringing in your ears. And it’s making you feel pretty low. Or, perhaps you were feeling a bit depressed before that ringing began. You’re just not certain which happened first.

That’s exactly what experts are attempting to figure out regarding the connection between depression and tinnitus. It’s pretty well established that there is a connection between depressive disorders and tinnitus. Study after study has shown that one often accompanies the other. But the cause-and-effect relationship is, well, more challenging to determine.

Does Depression Cause Tinnitus?

One study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders seems to say that a precursor to tinnitus might be depression. Or, to put it another way: They noticed that you can at times recognize a problem with depression before tinnitus becomes apparent. As a result, it’s possible that we simply notice the depression first. In the publication of their study, the researchers indicate that anyone who undergoes screening for depression might also want to be tested for tinnitus.

The theory is that tinnitus and depression may share a common pathopsychology and be frequently “comorbid”. Which is just a technical way of saying that tinnitus and depression might have some shared causes, and that’s the reason why they show up together so often.

But in order to identify what the common cause is, more research will be necessary. Because it’s also feasible that, in some circumstances, tinnitus causes depression; in other circumstances the reverse is true and in yet others, the two appear at the same time but aren’t related at all. We can’t, at this point, have much confidence in any one theory because we just don’t know enough about what the link is.

Will I Get Depression if I Suffer From Tinnitus?

Major depressive disorders can develop from many causes and this is one reason why it’s difficult to pin down a cause and effect relationship. There can also be numerous reasons for tinnitus to manifest. In many cases, tinnitus presents as a ringing or buzzing in your ears. At times, the sound changes (a thump, a whump, various other noises), but the underlying idea is the same. Noise damage over a long period of time is normally the cause of chronic tinnitus that is probably permanent.

But chronic tinnitus can have more acute causes. Long lasting ringing in the ears is sometimes caused by traumatic brain injury for instance. And in some cases, tinnitus can even happen for no perceptible reason whatsoever.

So if you suffer from chronic tinnitus, will you develop depression? The answer is a challenging one to predict because of the wide array of causes for tinnitus. But what seems pretty clear is that if you don’t treat your tinnitus, your chances might increase. The following reasons might help sort it out:

  • Tinnitus can make doing some things you enjoy, like reading, difficult.
  • The noises of the tinnitus, and the fact that it won’t go away by itself, can be a challenging and aggravating experience for some.
  • The ringing and buzzing can make social communication harder, which can lead you to socially separate yourself.

Treating Your Tinnitus

What the comorbidity of depression and tinnitus clue us into, thankfully, is that by managing the tinnitus we might be able to offer some respite from the depression (and, possibly, vice versa). You can reduce your symptoms and stay centered on the positive facets of your life by managing your tinnitus utilizing treatments including cognitive-behavioral therapy (helping you ignore the sounds) or masking devices (created to drown out the noise).

To put it in a different way, treatment can help your tinnitus diminish to the background. That means social situations will be easier to keep up with. You will have a much easier time following your favorite TV show or listening to your favorite music. And you’ll find very little disturbance to your life.

That won’t eliminate depression in all cases. But research reveals that treating tinnitus can help.

Remember, Cause And Effect Isn’t Clear

That’s why medical professionals are starting to take a more robust interest in keeping your hearing healthy.

At this stage, we’re still in a chicken and egg situation with regards to tinnitus and depression, but we’re pretty confident that the two are connected. Whichever one started first, treating tinnitus can have a considerable positive effect. And that’s why this insight is important.