Ep 6 - Interoception

This episode is about interoception (not Inception! although that’s a great movie), which in one brief definition means "your body talking to your mind."

We are beginning to understand that the connection to oneself and the relationship with your own body is vital to how we are able to show up in this world. Understanding yourself means that you are acting of your own free will. To connect to your body and interpret its needs means that you are aware of when you’re being swayed by someone else’s will, energy, or opinions because it causes a change in the way your body feels. A connected person feels this immediately, dives into it, and finds the source of the change. 

Interoception is the sense that allows us to do this. It is the ability to interpret the language of the body (sensation) and translate it into thoughts that the mind can understand. For example, your stomach gurgles and you know you are hungry. Think now about what your body feels like after you leave a conversation with a negative person, or when you say yes to something that you really wanted to say no to. When you pay attention to how you feel in these situations, you’ll notice the physical sensations your body experiences and yes, they are connected! This is how your body tells your brain it likes/dislikes something. It’s your gut feeling, your intuition, and your emotions.

Interoception is the way your brain interprets your feeling body, but more simply put it is mind-body trust. Lack of interoceptive sense has been linked to depression, anxiety, and tons of other common mental health issues. Growing up we are actually taught to lean away from this sense when we are taught that some emotions are good while others are bad; that emotions are anything other than physical messengers that are there to tell you something. We learn to stuff things down which shuts off the ability to communicate and understand our body.

You can learn to tune back into it! This is your birth right.

Learn more in this week’s episode on Interoception.

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Dr. Nutt references a previous episode on Hypervigilance and Dissociation, that’s episode 4.

Interoceptive accuracy = how accurately you are aware of your body’s sensations (objectively, can be measured)

Interoceptive sensibility = your own judgment of your ability (how accurate you think you are)

Interoceptive awareness = your own awareness of your interoceptive abilities (being aware of your accuracy)

Links to the studies Dr. Nutt references about depression and interoception can be found here and here

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