Looking within: Interoceptive sensibility in young adults with psychotic‐like experiences

Abstract

Aim: Interoception is the ability to sense internal bodily changes and research indicates that it may play a role in the development of mental illness. In recent years, preliminary evidence has shown that interoception is impaired in people with psychosis.Interoceptive sensibility, a meta-cognitive aspect of interoception, has never been studied across the psychosis continuum. The present study aimed at assessing interoceptive sensibility in youth with psychotic-like experiences. Method: We invited a sample of young adults (N = 609; age 19-21 years) to complete an online survey that included a measure of interoceptive sensibility (the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness-2) and the Community Assessment of Psychotic Experiences-Positive Scale −15 (CAPE-P15). Using the recommended cutoff for the CAPE-P15, the overall sample was divided into two groups (high/low risk for psychosis).Results: Significant group differences were observed in several dimensions of interoceptive sensibility. A logistic regression analysis indicated that scores in the subscales of Not-Distracting, Not-Worrying, Attention-Regulation, Emotional Awareness, Body Listening, and Trusting significantly predicted increased risk for psychosis. Conclusion:Abnormal interoceptive sensibility may be a vulnerability marker for psychosis. These results, however, await further validation from additional comprehensive, longitudinal studies. Enhanced interoceptive sensibility has been reported following contemplative training, thus creating opportunities for future interventions to delay or prevent psychotic illness.

Interoceptive functioning in schizophrenia and schizotypy

“…First, we note important discrepancies between our findings and Koreki et al's (2020), who found that SZ scored lower on Not Distracting (our results indicated the opposite effect), and higher on Noticing (we did not find a group difference on this subscale). Our findings are nonetheless largely consistent with a previous study showed that, like SZ, youths with prodromal experiences scored lower than controls on the Trusting, Not Worrying, and Attention Regulation subscales though no differences were observed in Self-Regulation and Noticing (Barbato et al, 2021). Though high-risk individuals reported enhanced abilities in Emotional Awareness and Body Listening, our findings suggest that SZ do not (though we did not observe a deficit either).…”

“…Though our results indicate that schizotypy and interoceptive functioning are independent in the general population, this might not be true in help-seeking/prodromal populations. In fact, a recent paper documented abnormal interoceptive sensibility in youth with psychotic-like experiences (Barbato et al, 2021). Thus, it is possible that interoceptive dysfunction emerges closer to the psychosis onset, during the prodromal stage.…”

“…In addition, recent studies documented altered interoceptive sensibility in individuals with schizophrenia (Koreki et al, 2020) and high-risk individuals (Barbato et al, 2021). To our knowledge, interoceptive awareness has never been measured in schizophrenia.…”

Components of emotion regulation flexibility and psychosis: The association between psychosis‐proneness and context sensitivity

“…Psychosis (−proneness) might be associated with an increase in switching between emotion regulation strategies without properly considering the strategies' efficacy. Disruptions in interoceptive sensibility might also prevent individuals prone to psychosis from using internal feedback appropriately to determine whether regulatory strategies are effective (Barbato et al, 2021). Despite the important methodological differences between the studies (e.g., cross‐sectional vs experience sampling method; clinical vs general population sample), our results align with those observed by Strauss's team (Bartolomeo et al, 2022; Raugh & Strauss, 2022; Visser et al, 2018).…”

Dispositional Associations Between Interoceptive Attention Tendencies and Effortful Control: Cross‐sectional Findings from an Online National Survey of Japanese Working Adults

“…IATs have been linked to several conditions and clinical contexts (e.g., Noda et al, 2022) as well as psychiatric disorders and symptoms that cut across diagnoses (e.g., Eggart et al, 2021; Khalsa et al, 2018). With respect to each of the MAIA factors, Not Distracting, Not Worrying, Attention Regulation, Emotional Awareness, Body Listening, and Trusting factors were risk markers for psychiatric disorders (Barbato et al, 2021). Low Attention Regulation, Self‐Regulation, and Trusting may also predict serious clinical problem behaviors, such as self‐injury and suicidal ideation (Forrest & Smith, 2021; Perry et al, 2021).…”