STRESS MANAGEMENT AND SELF-AWARENESS IN I DIOPATHIC SUDDEN HEARING-LOSS

In the work presented here patterns of stress management and self awar eness of patients with sudden hearing loss (n = 50) are studied and co mpared to a control group, Private self awareness is conceived as a mo derator of stress management. Data analysis was performed with special consideration given to gender specificity of patterns investigated. T he profile of stress management in patients with sudden hearing loss d iffers from control groups, As for stress management, gender specific data analysis reveals for male as well as for female patients signific ant differences when compared to control groups. Beyond that, profiles of stress management differ between males and females. Furthermore, p rivate self awareness in patients with sudden hearing loss exhibit sig nificant differences in mean values when compared to control groups, w hich is interpreted as a reflection of a lower prevalence of private s elf awareness, However, gender specific analysis supports this initial ly significant result only to have tendentious character. With respect to preventive treatment and prophylaxis of relapse, our results sugge st that training in stress management should be completed by bodily or iented procedures suited to enhance the perception of body signals.