Listening to the Body

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynette Marie Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Emotional Dysregulation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Interoceptive Awareness ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Bidirectional Communication ◽  
Therapeutic Mechanisms ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Deep Listening

As an embodied species, the basis of human emotion lies within the physiological body.  The internal state of the body, determined by activity from the viscera, must be perceived by the bidirectional communication between the mind and the body through a process known as interoception. As an emerging area of research, interoception suggests that the perception and awareness of internal organ function contributes to empathy and emotional-regulation.  Improving interoceptive awareness presents clinical opportunities in the treatment of diagnoses that involve emotional dysregulation such as anxiety and depression.  Due to the introspective nature of Gaga movement language, a movement style within the field of dance, Gaga classes can provide potential therapeutic mechanisms for improving interoceptive awareness.  Dance intrinsically utilizes interoception by using the body as an outward expression of inward sensations. However Gaga classes, offered for both dancers and non-dancers, elicits movement from an attention to the body on a molecular level.  Through the lens of Gaga language and its particular emphasis on deep listening to the body, this paper demonstrates that Gaga movement language stimulates the development of interoceptive awareness and can expand the current literature on interoception and its clinical roles in emotional regulation.

scholarly journals Interoceptive Functioning in Schizophrenia and Schizotypy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lénie Torregrossa ◽  
Amad Amedy ◽  
Jacqueline Roig ◽  
Andrea Prada ◽  
Sohee Park
Keyword(s):  
Help Seeking ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Internal State ◽  
The Body ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Interoceptive Awareness ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Spectrum Experiment ◽  
Interoceptive Accuracy ◽  
First Time

Though bodily self-disturbances are well documented in schizophrenia, interoceptive functioning (i.e., the perception of the internal state of the body) remains poorly understood in this population. In fact, only two studies to date have empirically measured interoceptive ability in schizophrenia. Both studies documented a deficit in interoceptive accuracy (i.e., objective performance on a heartbeat detection task), and one noted differences in interoceptive sensibility (i.e., subjective experience of interoception) in this population. To our knowledge, interoceptive awareness (i.e., metacognitive awareness of one’s interoceptive ability) has never been measured in schizophrenia and the link between interoceptive functioning and schizotypy remains unexplored. The present study addresses this gap by investigating the three dimensions of interoception in individuals with schizophrenia and matched controls (Experiment 1, N=58) and across the schizotypy spectrum (Experiment 2, N=109). Consistent with the literature, Experiment 1 documented a deficit in interoceptive accuracy and differences in interoceptive sensibility in individuals with schizophrenia. For the first time, our study revealed intact interoceptive awareness in individuals with schizophrenia. Against our expectations, we found no link between schizotypy and interoceptive functioning in Experiment 2. Our novel findings bear important clinical implications as insight into one’s interoceptive limitations (i.e., intact interoceptive awareness) might promote treatment seeking behavior in schizophrenia. The lack of association between interoceptive ability and schizotypy in non-help-seeking youths suggests that changes in interoception may only arise with the onset of psychosis.

Development of Social Cognition in Adolescence and the Importance of Mating

2021 ◽  
pp. 70-95
Author(s):  
Sarah Donaldson ◽  
Kathryn Mills
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Romantic Relationships ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Current Literature ◽  
Rapid Growth ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
The Mind

Adolescents experience rapid growth in biology, cognition, and behaviours, which are essential for navigating social complexity within the human environment. One added complexity includes the development of romantic relationships. The onset of puberty prepares the body for biological processes of reproduction, allowing for the ability to conceive, carry, and rear offspring. It follows that maturing cognitive and affective systems develop concurrently to support reproductive competence, transitioning the mind towards identifying and maintaining mating relationships. This chapter reviews current literature in the development of adolescent social cognition, and proposes ways in which these mechanisms also support the emergence of a mating-focused mentality in adolescent youth. Hormonal and neurological influences on social cognition during adolescence are discussed, followed by more focused assessments of research investigating (1) face perception, (2) mentalizing, and (3) emotional regulation/executive control. How these processes support the advancement of mating cognition across adolescence will be highlighted.

An Introduction to Interoception

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. D. (Bud) Craig
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Interoceptive Awareness ◽  
Autonomic Activity ◽  
Visceral Sensation ◽  
Central Tenet ◽  
Bodily Feelings ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Human Awareness

This introductory chapter provides an overview of interoceptive awareness. The significance of interoceptive awareness of feelings from the body for human awareness of emotional feelings is a central tenet of so-called embodiment theories of emotion. A major distinguishing feature of emotion theories is whether emphasis is placed on the body or on the mind, reflecting the inherent dualism in Western culture. Embodiment theories of emotion relate emotions to the condition of bodies, and they are remarkably consistent with the pathways in brains that underlie bodily feelings and affective feelings. The embodiment theories of emotion emphasize the role of visceral sensation and autonomic activity in the body and brain as a causal source of emotional feelings. In other words, embodiment theories of emotion posit that feelings are generated by autonomic activity and emotional behaviors.

Burnout of the Mind – Burnout of the Body?

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Traunmüller ◽  
Kerstin Gaisbachgrabner ◽  
Helmut Karl Lackner ◽  
Andreas R. Schwerdtfeger
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Allostatic Load ◽  
Maslach Burnout Inventory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Lower Percentage ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Urinary Catecholamines ◽  
Morning Cortisol ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Cortisol Increase

Abstract. In the present paper we investigate whether patients with a clinical diagnosis of burnout show physiological signs of burden across multiple physiological systems referred to as allostatic load (AL). Measures of the sympathetic-adrenergic-medullary (SAM) axis and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis were assessed. We examined patients who had been diagnosed with burnout by their physicians (n = 32) and were also identified as burnout patients based on their score in the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) and compared them with a nonclinical control group (n = 19) with regard to indicators of allostatic load (i.e., ambulatory ECG, nocturnal urinary catecholamines, salivary morning cortisol secretion, blood pressure, and waist-to-hip ratio [WHR]). Contrary to expectations, a higher AL index suggesting elevated load in several of the parameters of the HPA and SAM axes was found in the control group but not in the burnout group. The control group showed higher norepinephrine values, higher blood pressure, higher WHR, higher sympathovagal balance, and lower percentage of cortisol increase within the first hour after awakening as compared to the patient group. Burnout was not associated with AL. Results seem to indicate a discrepancy between self-reported burnout symptoms and psychobiological load.

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