ABSTRACT
It has been assumed that tension and anxiety serve to induce or exacerbate tinnitus through increasing muscle tension or alteration in blood flow to the cochlear region. And it is also possible that psychological distress may be a result of tinnitus, or that awareness of tinnitus may be greater during environmental stress. So tinnitus patients need psychologic consideration in their diagnosis and treatment. Purpose of this study is to evaluate the degree and characteristic of the psychologic factors in tinnitus disorder. Cornell Medical Index(CMI), Fukamachi's Discriminative chart and Symptom Check List-90-Revision(SCL-90-R) were examed in tinnitus patients and control group. The results were as follows. 1) According to the Fukamachi's Discriminative Chart using CMI, the tinnitus group showed higher incidence than normal healthy adults group in class III or IV region which is regarded as neurosis. 2) The tinnitus group showed higher score than normal healthy group in all 9 sections of SCL-90-R. 3) The group which has long duration of tinnitus was related to high scores of interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, and the group which has not history of otologic surgery was related to high scores of depression, phobic anxiety(p<0.01).