Interoceptive Accuracy, Sensitivity, and Attention are Associated with Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors

Abstract

Suicide is a leading cause of death. Although significant research has focused on suicide, surprisingly little examines the role of interoception, or the perception of internal bodily states. We examined associations between dimensions of interoception and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs). This online study (N = 450) assessed self-reported interoceptive accuracy, sensitivity, and attention as well as STBs. People with recent STBs reported perceiving body sensations less accurately (i.e., lower interoceptive accuracy), difficulty perceiving lower intensity sensations (i.e., lower interoceptive sensitivity), and paying more attention to sensations (i.e., greater interoceptive attention). Interoceptive sensitivity moderated the association between negative affect and recent suicidal behaviors, such that people with lower interoceptive sensitivity (i.e., difficulty perceiving lower intensity sensations) were more likely to report suicidal behaviors at all levels of negative affect, whereas people with higher interoceptive sensitivity were more likely to report suicidal behaviors only at high levels of negative affect. This study examines cross-sectional, self-reported associations between interoceptive processes and STBs. Future work should focus on examining objective measures of interoception and longitudinal associations. We provide evidence that the process of perceiving and understanding internal body states may differ for people with suicidal thoughts and behaviors – people with suicidal thoughts and behaviors described perceiving their body sensations inaccurately, especially when sensations were low intensity, and attending to their body sensations often. Interoception may represent an important, underexamined process for understanding STBs.