Abstract
Interoception is impaired in different psychiatric disorders and is also associated with emotions. Only one study could show a higher interoceptive accuracy (IAcc) in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Based on the predictive coding system we assume contrary results, indicating a decreased IAcc in patients with OCD. So far, there is no study investigating the effect of cognitive-behavioral therapy on IAcc in patients with OCD. Therefore, we hypothesize that patients with OCD improve their IAcc during the time course of therapy compared to healthy controls. Twenty-six patients with OCD from the Psychosomatic Clinic in Windach were examined in the time course of cognitive-behavioral therapy. They were compared to 26 matched healthy controls. IAcc via the heartbeat perception task as well as questionnaire data (OCD-, depression- and anxiety symptoms) were assessed. Results showed that IAcc, OCD-, depression- and anxiety symptoms were attenuated in patients with OCD. Patients recovered in the time course of therapy regarding OCD-, depression- and anxiety symptoms. Interoceptive deficits did not change in the time course of cognitive-behavioral therapy. We demonstrated that IAcc is affected in patients with OCD and this deficit does not change during the time course of a standardized therapy. Future studies should investigate, whether an inaccuracy in perceiving one’s bodily signals constitutes a risk factor for relapse. Further, it could be examined if IAcc can be increased via self- and body focus interventions in patients with OCD.
Highlights
Interoception is understood as the sensing and representation of signals concerning the internal state of the body [1,2]
As shown in this table, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), depression- and anxiety symptoms decrease during the time course of cognitive-behavioral therapy in the OCD sample
There is a descriptive increase in interoceptive accuracy (IAcc) over time for patients with OCD
Summary
Interoception is understood as the sensing and representation of signals concerning the internal state of the body [1,2]. Different research findings showed that an increased interoception is associated with an enhanced emotion perception, processing and regulation (e.g., [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]). These results are supported by different emotional theories, indicating that the perception of internal bodily signals is essential for the development of emotions [17,18,19]. The perception of internal bodily signals, namely interoception, is central to the processing of emotions
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