How Does Interoception Impact Neurodivergent People?
How Does Interoception Impact Neurodivergent People?
Interoception, the sense that monitors the internal state of the body, significantly impacts neurodivergent people by affecting their physical health, emotional regulation, and social participation. Differences in neurology mean this sense can be hypersensitive (feeling internal signals too intensely) or hyposensitive (not feeling internal signals strongly enough), creating unique challenges.
What is Interoception?
Interoception is the sense that allows you to perceive and understand what is happening inside your body. It includes sensations like hunger, thirst, pain, fatigue, body temperature, and the physical feelings associated with emotions (like a racing heart with anxiety or a warm feeling with excitement).
Impact on Physical Health & Self-Care
Atypical interoception can make basic self-care a challenge.
Hypersensitivity (Over-responsive)
Individuals who are hypersensitive to internal signals may be overwhelmed by them.
Pain Management: They may be more sensitive to pain, making chronic pain conditions difficult to manage.
Eating: They may struggle to recognize hunger versus fullness, or be so overwhelmed by the sensation of digestion that it impacts eating habits.
Sleeping: Sleep can be easily disrupted by any internal discomfort, pain, or temperature change.
Toileting: They may feel discomfort or pain associated with bodily sensations, leading to avoidance, which can cause medical issues like encopresis.
Health Anxiety: They may overreact to minor changes in health and obsess over what might be wrong.
Hyposensitivity (Under-responsive)
Individuals who are hyposensitive may not receive clear signals from their bodies until it's an emergency.
Eating: They may not recognize hunger or thirst cues, leading to dehydration, becoming "hangry," or overeating because they don't register fullness.
Sleeping: They may not recognize when they are tired and stay up too late, leading to fatigue.
Pain Management: They may not recognize pain or injury, leading to delays in seeking medical care or managing chronic conditions.
Body Temperature: They may not recognize when they are too hot or cold, leading to inappropriate clothing choices.
Toileting: They may not recognize the need to use the restroom until it is an emergency, which can also lead to medical issues.
Impact on Emotional Regulation
Emotional regulation is the ability to manage and respond to your emotions. Interoception is a crucial part of this, as it links a physical feeling (e.g., rapid heartbeat) to an emotion (e.g., fear).
Hypersensitivity (Over-responsive)
When internal signals are too "loud," it can be hard to decode them.
Naming Emotions: They may be overwhelmed by a flood of intense physical sensations, making it difficult to identify the specific emotion they are feeling.
Well-Being: They may be more prone to experiencing intense emotions and anxiety, as their body constantly feels like it's in a state of high alert.
Resilience: They may become easily overwhelmed by stress and have difficulty calming their internal state.
Hyposensitivity (Under-responsive)
When internal signals are too "quiet," individuals may not know what they're feeling.
Naming Emotions: They may struggle to identify their own emotions because their brain receives fewer interoceptive signals to decode. This is sometimes related to alexithymia (difficulty with words for emotions).
Well-Being: This decreased awareness can result in not understanding their own needs, which can contribute to feelings of apathy, low mood, or sudden emotional explosions when a feeling finally registers.
Coping Skills: They may not recognize the internal impact of stress and therefore may not recognize the need to use coping skills.
Impact on Social Participation
Interoception plays a key role in empathy and social connection, which rely on the ability to understand your own internal state and then model what another person might be feeling.
Hypersensitivity (Over-responsive)
Empathy & Attunement: They may be so overwhelmed by their own internal sensations (anxiety, discomfort) that they lack the bandwidth to tune into the internal states of others.
Social Touch: Social touch may be uncomfortable or even painful, leading to avoidance.
Attachment: They may become overwhelmed by the emotional intensity of close relationships.
Hyposensitivity (Under-responsive)
Misreading Others: If you struggle to identify your own emotional state, it's much harder to accurately identify the emotional states of others, which can lead to misunderstandings.
Empathy: This is often mistaken for a lack of empathy. The person may feel deep emotions for others but struggle to process them or express them in a way that others can understand.
Social Cues: They may miss the subtle emotional nuances of social touch or nonverbal communication.
