What Is Interoception?
What is Interoception?
While most people are familiar with the five basic senses, touch, smell, taste, sight, and hearing, the term interoception has only recently gained wider recognition.
Interoception is often referred to as the “eighth sensory system.” It allows individuals to perceive internal bodily sensations and interpret what those sensations mean. This critical sense helps us recognise and respond to signals from within our bodies, such as hunger, thirst, pain, or the need to use the bathroom.
Interoception and Internal Signals
Interoception enables us to recognise and interpret internal bodily signals and sensations. For example, it helps you identify when you need to use the bathroom, notice a rapid heartbeat, or recognise feelings of hunger, thirst, warmth, or cold. This ability to perceive and understand internal sensations is a key function of interoception.
Interoception and Toilet Training
Many Autistic children experience sensory processing differences, which can affect their ability to interpret interoceptive sensory information. For some children, this may result in difficulty recognising when they need to use the toilet or when their bladder is full. These challenges can lead to frequent accidents or delays in reaching the toilet in time.
Interoception and Emotions
For Autistic children, recognising and understanding their emotions can be particularly challenging if they experience difficulties with interoceptive sensory processing. They may struggle to interpret body cues related to their emotional states, making it harder to identify or articulate their feelings. This disconnect can often lead to distress, overwhelm, and a lack of understanding from others.
Interoception and Self-Regulation
Challenges with interoception can significantly impact self-regulation for Autistic children. For instance, as an Autistic individual, I often struggle to recognise whether I am thirsty or hungry. This difficulty in interpreting internal signals means I may not realise I need to eat or drink until I begin to feel faint. To manage this, I rely on setting alarms as reminders to eat and drink.
If you are feeling annoyed or frustrated, you may struggle to recognise or understand these emotions, making it difficult to regulate your responses. For Autistic individuals, this challenge can lead to overwhelm or meltdowns. They may also find it difficult to identify the underlying cause or source of their discomfort or unease.
“Interoceptive awareness can be described as the awareness of the inside of your body, including heart rate and breathing, combined with an awareness of emotions. – New research has shown that there is a definite link between interoceptive awareness and emotions as they relate to overall regulation, complex thinking, and sense of self”.
Cara N. KOSCINSKI, MOT, OTR/L
www.thepocketot.com
References:
Craig, A. D. 2002. How do you feel? Interoception: the sense of the physiological condition of the body. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 3:655–66. doi: 10.1038/nrn894
Khalsa, S. S., Adolphs, R., Cameron, O. G., Critchley, H. D., Davenport, P. W., Feinstein, J. S., et al. 2018. Interoception and mental health: a roadmap. Biol. Psychiatry Cogn. Neurosci. Neuroimaging 3:501–13. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2017.12.004
Murphy, J., Catmur, C., and Bird, G. 2019. Classifying individual differences in interoception: implications for the measurement of interoceptive awareness. Psychon. Bull. Rev. 26:1467–71. doi: 10.3758/s13423-019-01632-7
