Showing posts with label Interoception. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Interoception. Show all posts

Feelings and Body Signals in Autism

 [Plain Language for Lay Audience]

Alexithymia means having trouble recognizing and describing your own emotions. People with alexithymia often can't tell what they are feeling and find it hard to explain their emotions to others. This can make it difficult to connect with others and share feelings.

Interoception is the ability to sense and understand signals from inside your body. These signals include things like hunger, thirst, heartbeat, temperature, breathing, and the need to go to the bathroom. Interoception helps keep our bodies balanced and healthy by letting us know what we need and how we feel inside. It also plays a big role in how we experience and control our emotions by linking our body sensations to our feelings.

Both alexithymia and interoception issues can happen together in autism. 

Autistics might have unusual interoceptive awareness, meaning they can be more or less aware of their body signals than other people. This can cause problems like not noticing when they are uncomfortable or sick, or misunderstanding changes in their emotions, which are important for social interactions and taking care of their health.

Here are some examples of how this can affect autistics:

  • Eating: Not knowing when they feel full, which can lead to overeating.
  • Anxiety: Not feeling their heart race when they are anxious, making it harder to know they are stressed.
  • Pain: Feeling an injection as more painful than usual, or not showing pain, which can confuse doctors.
  • Exercise vs. Anxiety: Mixing up a racing heart from exercise (good) with a racing heart from fear (not good).
  • Toilet Training: Taking longer to learn to use the toilet or having random accidents even into adulthood  because their body can't recognize when they need to go.

From a brain science perspective, the insular cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) are important for interoception. The insula helps combine body signals with thoughts and emotions, while the ACC is involved in feeling pain. In autism, these brain areas might work differently, affecting how body signals and emotions are processed. Studies using brain scans have shown that the insula reacts differently during body signal tasks in autism, which might explain their unique interoceptive experiences.

Addressing both alexithymia and interoception is important for improving emotional understanding and overall well-being. Helping autistics improve their interoceptive skills can lead to better emotional control and awareness, making it easier for them to connect with others and take care of their health.


2 Versions of this article: 

Academic/Scientific Audience

Plain Language for Lay Audience

Other Articles in Plain Language #PlainSpeak

Alexithymia and Interoception in Autism

Alexithymia is a term used to describe individuals who have difficulty recognizing and articulating their emotions. This condition can lead to significant challenges in emotional expression and interpersonal relationships. Those with alexithymia often struggle to identify their own emotions and may have trouble describing them to others, which can hinder effective communication and emotional connection.

Interoception refers to the perception and awareness of internal bodily states. It involves the ability to sense and interpret physiological signals originating from within the body, such as hunger, thirst, heartbeat, temperature, respiration, and the need for bodily functions. Interoception is crucial for maintaining homeostasis and overall well-being as it allows an individual to respond appropriately to bodily needs and emotional states. This internal sensory system plays a significant role in emotional experiences and self-regulation by linking physical sensations with emotional responses.

And yes, both can co-exist in autism.  

Autistics often exhibit atypical interoceptive awareness, which can be either heightened or diminished. This variance can lead to unique challenges, such as difficulty identifying states of discomfort or illness, or misinterpreting signals of emotional changes, which are critical for social interactions and personal health management.

For example, autistics might find it difficult to recognize a sensation of fullness to prevent overeating or to feel a racing heartbeat when anxious. Moreover, atypical interoceptive awareness can affect pain perception, complicating healthcare experiences. An injection might feel more painful than usual, or a lack of reaction to pain might make it appear to healthcare providers that there is no injury or less pain. Additionally, autistics might confuse a racing heartbeat resulting from exercise (a positive physical activity) with a racing heartbeat due to fear or anxiety, leading to difficulties in emotional and physical self-regulation.

Furthermore, atypical interoceptive awareness can result in challenges such as delayed toilet training. Recognizing the need for bodily functions like urination may be delayed, inconsistent or unclear, leading to practical and social difficulties like random incontinence even in adulthood. 

From a neuroscience perspective, the insular cortex and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) are critical regions involved in interoception. The insula integrates interoceptive signals with emotinal and cognitive processes, while the ACC is associated with the emotional experience of pain. In individuals with autism, atypical functioning in these brain areas can contribute to altered interoceptive processing and emotional awareness. For example, fMRI studies have shown differences in insula activation in response to interoceptive tasks in autism, which may underpin the atypical interoceptive awareness observed clinically.

Impaired interoceptive awareness can exacerbate the challenges faced by individuals with alexithymia, making it harder to connect emotional experiences with physiological responses. Consequently, addressing both alexithymia and interoception is crucial for enhancing emotional intelligence and overall well-being. Research indicates that improving interoceptive skills may offer a pathway to better emotional regulation and awareness, fostering improved interpersonal connections and emotional health.

2 Versions of this article: 

Related Posts on #Interoception, #Alexithymia


Interoception and Autism

Interoception refers to the perception and awareness of internal bodily states. It involves the ability to sense and interpret physiological signals originating from within the body, such as hunger, thirst, heartbeat, temperature, respiration, and the need for bodily functions. Interoception is crucial for maintaining homeostasis and overall well-being as it allows an individual to respond appropriately to bodily needs and emotional states. This internal sensory system plays a significant role in emotional experiences and self-regulation by linking physical sensations with emotional responses.

Relevance to Autism

For example, interoceptive awareness includes the ability to feel a racing heartbeat when anxious or to recognize a sensation of fullness to prevent overeating. In autism, this sense may be heightened or diminished, leading to unique challenges such as difficulty in identifying states of discomfort or illness, or misinterpreting signals of emotional changes which are critical in social interactions and personal health management. Moreover, the role of interoception in autism extends to fundamental daily activities; it influences everything from toilet training—where recognizing the need to urinate can be delayed or unclear—to managing anxiety and stress levels in response to overstimulation or environmental changes. These distinct interoceptive experiences can significantly affect how individuals with autism recognize and communicate their needs and emotions, thus requiring tailored strategies that address these sensory processing differences to enhance their quality of life and autonomy."

Interoception

Interoception refers to the perception of internal bodily states and is a critical component of emotional awareness and regulation. In autism, interoceptive experiences can be distinct, potentially influencing the recognition and communication of needs and emotions (Quattrocki & Friston, 2014). This divergence in interoceptive processing underscores the complexity of understanding internal states and managing emotions in autism.

Alexithymia and Interoception

Alexithymia and interoception are intertwined aspects of emotional processing, yet they represent different dimensions of self-awareness. 

Alexithymia characterizes individuals who struggle to recognize and articulate their emotions, often leading to difficulties in interpersonal relationships and emotional expression. On the other hand, interoception pertains to the awareness of internal bodily sensations, providing individuals with valuable information about their emotional states. 

The ability to accurately interpret these internal cues is essential for emotional regulation and understanding. In the context of alexithymia, impaired interoceptive awareness can exacerbate the challenges faced by individuals, making it harder for them to connect their emotional experiences with physiological responses. Consequently, addressing both alexithymia and interoception is crucial in enhancing emotional intelligence and overall well-being.

And yes, both are issues seen in autism. 

Interoception and exteroception

[Concepts in Sensorimotor Research]

Interoception and exteroception are two types of sensory perception.

Interoception refers to the sense of the internal state of the body. It helps us understand and feel what's going on inside our bodies, like feeling hungry, thirsty, or perceiving our heartbeat. Interoceptive awareness contributes to emotional regulation and self-awareness.

Exteroception refers to the perception of the external environment through our senses like vision, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. These senses help us navigate and interact with the world around us.

Research findings  in autism:

Autistics often exhibit differences in sensory processing, which may include atypical interoceptive and exteroceptive perception. Findings (examples below) suggest that atypical interoceptive and exteroceptive processing may be significant factors in understanding the behavioral and sensory symptoms in individuals with autism.
  • This review explores the role of oxytocin in interoception and its potential implications for autism. The authors propose that atypical interoceptive processing, potentially linked to altered oxytocin functioning, could contribute to the social and emotional difficulties experienced by autistics. (1)
  • This study found that adult autistics exhibited significantly lower interoceptive awareness compared to NT adults. The authors suggest that this might be related to the difficulties in social and emotional processing seen in autism (2).
  • This review discusses various neurophysiological findings in sensory processing, including exteroception, in autistics. The authors highlight that altered sensory processing may contribute to the core features of ASD, such as social communication and repetitive behaviors (3)